Somewhere in the Darkness
by Nil089
Summary: 2 Years ago, Squalo was sent to another usual mission. Kill the target and then leave, that was the routine. Yet, he did not expect a young girl lying in the middle of corpses, asleep. Now here he was, taking care of the girl he now called his daughter. First Set 2 years before the Varia arc. DISCONTINUED (due to lots of issues in this story, basically author gave it up)
1. Found

_Chapter 1: Found_

* * *

**I don't own KHR, it all belongs to the wonderful Amano Akira.**

**A/N: Revision Notes: Nothing has changed in the plot. I only changed up the layout of some chapters. Hence there will be no more part 1 or 2's in Interludes. **

* * *

Squalo finally arrived at the location after the delayed flight. Yet here he was sitting down and having a cup of coffee while impatiently waiting for the right moment to infiltrate the location. He sighed slightly and tapped his leg impatiently. He knew that there was no reason to get irritated yet this mission was way too important for him to be delayed. Finally after a few minutes of waiting, he saw his chance. Squalo bolted from his seat and quickly snuck inside and to a spot where he couldn't be seen. Suddenly, it dawned on him that it was too quiet. Squalo frowned slightly and cautiously moved around the halls. There was no sign of human activity. This was unusual for him, it even looked temptingly safe for him to come out of the open and let down his guard. Of course he didn't, he figured it was probably a trap of some sort.

Squalo moved on to other rooms, finding it even stranger and stranger to find no sign of any humans around the area. He finally arrived at the ballroom, already out in the open with his sword out. As soon as he opened the door, the stench of rotting bodies hit his nose like a wave hitting against a cliff. The room was also unnaturally humid too. His frowned deepened as he saw the many bodies all in the room. He sighed a bit and turned around to leave the room, seeing no need to go in since he saw his target dead on the ground along with his men. That was when he heard a small yawn coming from behind him. Immediately, Squalo turned around again and strode towards the sound with his sword fully ready in front of him.

In the middle of a few dead bodies was a girl with tan skin and raven black hair. She was laying down and about to open her eyes. Her arms were covered in dried blood yet her clothes were not stained. Squalo stopped and looked at the girl curiously as she opened her eyes to reveal warm honey brown colored eyes.

"Who are you?" She asked softly.

The girl looked at him curiously, waiting for him to answer. Squalo kept quiet and frowned a bit, wondering how he didn't see her within the piles of rotting carcasses.

"Who are you?" She asked again in a louder voice and then with a tone laced with panic. "Wait, who am I?"

Squalo sighed a bit as the girl started to panic and curl up into a fetal position.

"Voi," he said to her.

The girl looked up at him.

"Did you do this?" He asked calmly.

The girl sat up and looked around. She looked horrified as she saw the rotting bodies around her.

"I don't...know," She replied hesitantly as her face started to pale. "Did..I do this?"

Squalo sighed as the girl started to have another mental panic attack. This didn't help that his irritation level also grew.

"VOII!" He shouted, finally snapping.

The girl just flinched and jumped back only to bump into another dead and decomposing human body.

"Calm down," Squalo said in a normal-ish volume. "Now, tell me what are you doing here?"

"I don't know," the girl whimpered in reply. "I just woke up..I don't know."

Squalo saw her her eyes and saw that she wasn't lying. A small frown covered his lips yet his eye betrayed interest and curiosity. He decided from then on to just keep the girl by impulse.

"Stand up," he said sharply.

The girl blinked a bit and looked at him in utter surprise. Squalo just pulled her arm, making the girl stand up.

"Let's go," he gruffly said.

The girl nodded, confusion swirling in her eyes. She certainly didn't like what the way Squalo was dragging her around yet she knew that she had no choice. Maybe she would also get her memories back. If not, then she would just ask the man about that. A small sigh escaped from her lips. That was when the realities of the world suddenly crashed on her mind. Her stomach started to growl, her throat was very dry and her body felt heavy with fatigue. She tried to control them but this made her vision go dark.

Squalo caught the girl and looked at her with surprise. She looked even worse than when he first saw her. There was no use in further interrogate her if she was in no condition to speak. Immediately, Squalo set the girl down gently on the floor and got out his phone to contact Lussuria.

* * *

Xanxus looked over to the sleeping girl and then to Squalo. He was slightly surprised by his actions but he didn't seem to care this time.

"She can stay," he said with a shrug and returned to his room.

Lussuria seemed delighted by this, while Squalo just seemed relieved that his boss did not throw a hissy fit.

"So what's her name?" Lussuria asked excitedly.

"I don't know," he replied with a small tired sigh. "She seemed to have forgotten once she woke up."

* * *

Squalo looked at the sleeping form of the girl. It had been two days since he took her in. He started to doubt himself why he even bothered to keep the girl alive in the first place. He just sighed and left the room, threatening the others to leave the girl alone and not go into his room for the meantime. Lussuria, who was about to ask why saw him leave and sighed in frustration. He looked at the sleeping girl and smiled warmly before leaving the the room and gently closing the door behind him.

The girl woke up only to be greeted by the grumbling of her stomach. She sighed in frustration and tried to distract herself from her hunger by looking around where she had woken up. It was a 180 degree change from her last location. She was not surrounded by bodies but rather by a very well lit room with fluffy blankets that kept her warm during the night. She blinked a bit in surprise and pinched the skin of her arm, wondering if she was already in heaven. Though before she could do that, the door opened.

Squalo went in to see the girl was already wide awake and looking at him in shock and awe.

"Are you an angel?" She asked in awe.

Squalo facepalmed and wondered if the girl had already lost her mind but yet replied, "No I'm not an Angel."

"Then am I dead?" the girl asked.

"You are not dead!"

"I'm not?"

"You're not brat."

Squalo sighed and looked at the dismayed girl. Already, he could tell that it's going to be a pain in the neck trying to get this girl to try to remember stuff. He was about to say something but was soon interrupted by her stomach growling.

"Sorry," the girl muttered softly.

"Let's just go eat," Squalo said looking at her with understanding eyes. "You're obviously hungry since you haven't eaten for a while."

The girl nodded and got out of bed, then quickly then followed Squalo out of the door. As they neared the dining room, the girl noticed that there were people there already.

"Ah you're awake," Lussuria enthusiastically exclaimed with a warm smile.

The girl suddenly clung on to Squalo and stayed behind him, feeling strangely afraid of these people. Xanxus on the other hand just ignored them and ate his breakfast steak. While Belphagor just looked at the girl curiously.

"So sweetheart," Lussuria said to her. "What's your name?"

"I-i," the girl stuttered, feeling like a tiny animal.

"VOIIIII!" Squalo shouted, slightly annoyed by this situation. "Lussuria sh-"

"Shishi Why didn't you kill her?" Bel asked with a grin.

The girl paled even more and whimpered slightly, suddenly letting go of Squalo and slowly backing away. Squalo glared at Belphagor and pulled the girl's arm to prevent her from escaping.

"She doesn't know what her name is and I have my own reasons," Squalo replied with an angry hiss.

"Shishi This is new," Belphagor said with amusement laced in his voice. "You trying not to shout that much to prevent the girl from getting scared."

"WHY DON'T YOU MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS BRAT!" Squalo shouted, clearly annoyed by this.

The girl winced slightly and shook with fear. Tears started to form on her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

"Squalo!" Lussuria exclaimed and quickly went over to the girl, wiping her tears. "Behave yourselves you two, she's just afraid."

The girl just back away and fled towards Xanxus, escaping from Lussuria's grip. Leviathan suddenly froze as soon as the girl clung on to Xanxus. He stood up and gave off an intimidating aura as he glared at her. Xanxus on the other hand was slightly shocked and surprised by this action. He looked down at the scared girl and sighed a bit, he patted her head other Varia members watched in shock and awe as they saw her started to calm down while still clinging to their only a few sniffles can be heard from her until she was utterly quiet. Leviathan on the other hand was shaking with anger as he saw this. Yet there was nothing he could do but to watch like the others.

Finally when she calmed down, the girl just let go of Xanxus and softly apologized. She seemed to be a lot more calmer than before.

"Catrina," Xanxus suddenly said. "Do you like that name?"

"Ah yes," the girl replied with a small warm smile. "I like that name."

"Then that's your name," Xanxus said then stood up and left, leaving the other Varia members slightly speechless at this sight. Catrina felt euphoria bloom within her chest as she had a name to cling to once more. Her stomach growled loudly, a small blush covered the girl's features.

"Let's just get you something to eat little one," Lussuria said with a small warm smile. He extended his arms to her, signaling that he was harmless. Catrina complied and went over to the man with the strange mohawk.


	2. Preparations

_Chapter 2: Introductions_

* * *

**I don't own KHR, it all belongs to the wonderful Amano Akira. **

* * *

The dinner the night before was pleasant. For Catrina food never felt so good to eat as that moment. The meat was a bit tough, though she didn't mind. Dessert was heaven for her though. Somehow the cake with the strawberry on top of the frosting made her feel giddy. Her hands moved by itself as it picked up the red berry and chomped on it. A warm wave flowed within her cheeks. The girl picked up her spoon and dug into the cake, pausing after each eaten spoonful to close her eyes and enjoy the swirling flavor that was in her mouth.

After Dinner, Catrina fell asleep almost instantly upon contact with the bed. The fluffy sheets felt like clouds around her as she closed her eyes. Outside the room that she was sleeping. Squalo watched with wonder at the girl that he had picked up. Mentally, he was starting to wonder about who she was and why she had amnesia. He took one last look at the sleeping girl before he closed the door behind him, making his steps far more quieter than usual. As he walked, he saw Lussuria happily yet quietly skipping towards the direction of where Catrina was sleeping. Squalo quickly stopped him.

"She's sleeping," Squalo quietly said and narrowed his eyes.

"Oh I know," Lussuria replied with a slight grin plastered on his face. "That's why I'm going to take one peak and guess her size."

"And why would you do that?"

"For her clothes of course! She can't be wearing those huge pajamas now can she?"

"We are not going to keep her though, we'll just send her to an orphanage after interrogation and threatening."

"Are you sure you want to do that Squ-chan?"

Squalo froze on Lussuria's words. Of course he want to yet a small voice inside of his head argued that he didn't really want that. Bloody images of the girl dead, flashed through his head.

"Of course not," Squalo soon replied softly. "But if word gets out we shelter this kid then she'd be an easy target."

"Then train her,"Lussuria said with a serious tone. "Train her until she's Varia-quality, you've already made your choice when you took her in."

"She's just an innocent girl," Squalo hissed, anger starting to boil in his chest.

"That killed those men," Lussuria countered. "She did that, I saw those bodies myself and I saw her hands, those deaths were by her own hand."

Squalo fell silent, the anger starting to simmer down within himself. He couldn't deny the phrase, he had seen it with his own eyes after all. The wounds and the bloody hands of the girl. How she had somehow avoided him and hid her presence before passing out and having amnesia.

"I'll think about it," Squalo said out loud. "Just give me time to think and remember that our shitty boss has the final say in this."

"No he doesn't," Lussuria said with a warm smile as he turned his back on the silver haired man and walked into the direction of his room. Squalo took one last look at the skipping man in front of him before going back to his room.

* * *

Squalo woke up with a surprisingly gentle start. Lussuria wasn't there to wake him up with that annoying tone of his. Xanxus wasn't marching up to him with a bottle of sake, ready to throw it at him. There was even no "shshi's" coming from the annoying prince.

"Mister," someone said, the voice was gentle, almost angel-like. "Mister, please wake up."

The silver haired man groaned out of frustration and focres his eyelids to open up. In front of him was the girl, she looked much more better than the night before and saw that the bandages were more cleaner than before.

"Mister," Catrina softly said again, seeing the man's eyes start to droop downwards.

"I know," Squalo gruffly said as he quickly sat up and stretched slightly, feeling his joints pop in satisfaction. His eyes then went over to the girl. She was wearing one of Bel's sweaters along with plain jeans. Her black hair was neatly in a bun that is held by a jeweled clip.

"We need to get you some clothes," Squalo said out loud, seeing the clothing that she's wearing.

"Aren't these okay?" Catrina asked, frowning slightly. Though she felt uncomfortable with the clothes that she was given. A small gut feeling told her that she won't be staying long anyways.

"No," Squalo replied, his eye twitching. "You're going to be staying here a few days anyways."

Once he said those words, he pushed her out of his bedroom and changed into some casual clothing. He donned on a white shirt along with black pants and some black shoes. He took a look at the mirror before he strode out of the door and grabbed Catrina's hand then dragged her out.

Lussuria smiled slyly as he watched Squalo drag a very confused Catrina out of the mansion and into town. He turned back over to the pouting Bel and smiled brightly.

"Alright a deal's a deal," Lussuria said as he clapped his hand together in delight. "You get most of the dessert for tonight."

A satisfied grin replaced the pout on the blond's facial features. He mentally reminded himself to take upon any task that Lussuria has given him in the future for a chance of extra dessert. Sugar heaven here we come.

* * *

Catrina saw the many different outfits with wide and sparkling eyes. She had never seen so many nice clothing in one area before. Squalo followed behind her as he observed what she would be interested in the most. He felt like getting hit by a bullet train at the moment. So far, he dragged the girl out into town just to remember that he didn't know what girls would like to wear. It was a very embarrassing thing.

"Hey Mister,"Catrina said, gaining the silver haired man's attention.

"What is it brat?" Squalo asked, noticing the uneasy look on her face. He took one look around just to make sure that there wasn't anyone who would recognize him or if there was any other punk out there with them. It was peaceful with no enemy around in sight or sense.

"Can I get that?" She asked, lowering her voice after each word.

"Say it louder brat," Squalo demanded, feeling slightly irritated by her quietness.

"Can I get that?" Catrina repeated again, slightly louder. She pointed at the shop with the sky blue dress on display.

"Yeah," Squalo casually said. "Let's get that then."

Catrina brightly smiled and hugged him.

"Grazzie mister," She said with a happy squeal. Squalo froze and slowly followed the girl in a slight daze. As they went in, he noticed that the customers gave him an odd look, he just ignored them. Both went past the other clothing until they went over to the aisle with the dress that was on display. He watched as she went through hanger after hanger, looking at the tags.

Finally, after a few minutes of looking. Catrina got the size of the dress that she wanted. Before long, he following the girl pick out other articles of clothing. The shopping in total lasted about 2 hours for the two. Squalo felt his legs start to ache as they exit the shop with bags containing the clothing.

"Let's just get back," Squalo said as soon as they took a step out of the shop.

"Ah okay," Catrina complied, looking reluctant to get back. She followed the silver haired man out of town and back into the mansion with the bags in hand. Squalo smiled a bit as he saw the girl skip to th-her room.

"Are you sure we can't keep her?" Lussuria asked, popping out of nowhere. Squalo glared at the man.

"We can't," Squalo calmly replied as he walked to the direction of Xanxus' office. "Unless we find someone who can take care of her or at least have knowledge."

Lussuria's smile widened into a shining grin. Squalo could even feel the head of the grin on his back as he walked further and further away.

* * *

As usual Vongola Nono would get a new stack of paper from the Varia. Most of them were damage and food cost, which was expected. Today though was a bit different. Despite the usual reports there was one document which shocked him.

It was an approval for adoption paper.

Immediately, the old man called the Varia headquarters.

"VOII What the hell do you want?!"Squalo answered, sounding very irritated.

"Squalo," Nono calmly said through the phone, not even flinching from the loud screen. "I want to talk to Xanxus, give the phone to him."

There was a pause from he other side before the usual screaming commence. Nono just waited patiently as the screaming continued along with the sounds of bottle being broken in the background. Soon a gruff voice spoke from the other side of the line.

"This better be important," Xanxus said, sounding very annoyed.

"It is," Nono assured. "Now you aren't planning to adopt are you?"

"We..we were just thinking," Xanxus replied hesitantly. "How did you know?"

"I just got a paper for an approval."

There was silence. "What?! We didn't send shit about that."

"Well it's here right in front of me Xanxus. So please explain."

"Just come here old man, this isn't just for me and you.."

"Alright."

Xanxus hung up. Nono just stood up and calmly strode out of his office. Inwardly he was jumping with joy, being able to temporarily avoiding the paperwork. His inner voice did remind him that when he got back that there will be more.

Upon arrival, Nono got cold looks from the other Varia members. He just smiled warmly at them before heading into Xanxus' office. Once inside, he noticed the silver haired commander along with a petite girl with raven black hair and honey brown eyes staring curiously at him. He just smiled sweetly at her as she clung on to the man protectively.

"Xanxus," He said. "Squalo."

"Nono," Xanxus replied gruffly.

Nono's smile grew bigger. Despite not calling him "father" at least he called him by title, which was much more better that being called "old man." He sat down and crossed his legs then waved his arm to signal the scar-faced man to start. And he did that, beginning from Squalo's mission to Catrina's condition. Nono listened intently and frowned as he learned that she had amnesia, on top of that she barely had any form of identification on her.

"I see," Nono spoke as soon as the explanation was done. "I don't think you two need to worry about the legal stuff. It's easy to make papers for her especially when she's going to be adopted by Squalo."

Both men relaxed just slightly. Nono nearly cried out of joy, seeing such relaxed faces in such ruthless men. The girl really was a sort of miracle to him and everyone around the headquarters too.

"Though," Nono said, making the two tense up again. "You two have little to no knowledge of raising a child, a teen especially. Xanxus give me a paper and a pen."

Xanxus complied and watched as Nono made a list of simple things to do when raising a child.

"Do keep in mind I raised boys," Nono spoke while still writing. "Not all of them are perfect and raising a teen will be difficult especially when they rebellious and they are girls."

"What's her being a girl got to do with all of those?" Squalo asked, frowning slightly.

Nono looked up and looked at Catrina with soft eyes.

"I'm sure you know little lady," he said to her with a small smile.

Catrina nodded, feeling slightly embarrassed that she almost forgot about that. Both men looked at Nono and Catrina with a confused look, not knowing what they were implying about.

"I also recommend having her do a journal entry each night," Nono said, changing the subject completely. "It will help if she remembers something and will forget later on. I believe Mammon can help her with getting her memories back, yes?"

Both men were silent.

"Now I'm sure both of you haven't forgotten about training her," Nono continued. "But I want all of you to start with some introductions and also suspend your missions to spend some time with her."

Finally, Nono was done writing and handed the paper to Xanxus then walked over to Catrina with a warm smile.

"I'm Vongola Nono," he said to her. "I'm Xanxus' boss and adoptive father. You can call me Grandpa though."

"Nice to you meet you," Catrina shy said. "I'm Catrina, thank you so much Vo-..err Grandpa."

Nono smiled bright and nodded. He then gave a small nod to Xanxus and Squalo before leaving the office to go back and do the paperwork.

* * *

Upon Nono's recommendation and also Squalo's instance and self-bashing, Xanxus gathered all of the Varia members in the living room along with Catrina. The raven haired girl watched as each members started to flood in one by one, giving off an incredible aura around them. Soon, all of the Varia members sat down in their seats and silently looked at her with curious eyes.

"I'll start," Squalo said then glared at the others who opened their mouths to say something. "I'm Squalo, Xanxus' second in command."

"Hi Sweety," Lussuria spoke up with a bright smile. "I'm Lussuria, call me big sis okay?"

"Shishishi hello peasant," Bel said with his Cheshire grin. "I'm Belphagor, call me Bel or Prince."

"I'm Mammon," Mammon plainly said. "Since our commander forgot introductions, this information is free. Anymore needs to be paid."

"I'm Levi-A-Than," Levi said gruffly then narrowed his eyes at the girl. "You better not harm Boss."

"Just call him Levi," Lussuria piped up and laughed as soon as Levi glared at him.

"I'm Xanxus," Xanxus said, ignoring the chaos that is about to start. "I'm your Boss and Uncle I guess."

Catrina nodded and smiled at Xanxus, he just nodded at her and picked up a bottle. He chucked it upwards in angle. The bottle landed straight at Levi, who's eyes widened as he tried to apologize for the noise. Catrina just watched in amusement as the chaos ensued as Bel made a snarky comment at Levi, who in turn just attacked the boy. Bel dodged the attack along with Mammon, who was just sitting on top of Bel's head. Weapons soon were taken out and Catrina was pushed back by Xanxus, who was also watching with little interest in his eyes.

"Just stay behind me," Xanxus softly yet gruffly said. Catrina nodded and watched.

**Vongola. Cielo.**

Those words flashed inside Catrina's mind, her eyes widened. Her mind wandered away from watching the fight into repeating the words over and over again in her mind to the point of her just mumbling the words under her breath. The other Varia members, all caught up in their shenanigans didn't notice her odd behavior.


	3. A Year

Chapter 3: A Year

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**A/N: Hey guys. Thank you so much for reading. There was someone asking quite a bit of things and I wanted to clarify it. Feel free to review and/ or correct me on some mistakes. **

**Catrina's Age:**

**Two Years Before Varia Arc: 15 years old**

**Varia Arc: 17 Years old **

**Catrina's origins:**

**You will see ;) **

**Disclaimer: No need to remind you but KHR is not mine, it's Amano Akira's. Catrina is mine though. **

* * *

Vongola Nono looked at the huge stack of paperwork and mentally cried. He really wanted to spend some time with his little granddaughter. Almost year has passed ever since the Varia took the girl in. He had enjoyed spending most of his free time with her. She had sky-like qualities around her despite being an assassin. She also had started a reputation of being the one and only people to calm Xanxus down by her very presence. Sadly, she got little to no memories being recovered despite Mammon's help.

Now at the present, Nono is currently doing the paperwork at the best he could. He had promised Xanxus and Squalo that he would supervise her that day since almost everyone is either recovering or out for a mission. Of course Xanxus was also out for the day too due to paperwork that had been recently piling up in his office. Despite all that, it was a perfect opportunity. Immediately, the old man looked at the clock and smiled. About 2 more hours to go until he leaves the accursed paperwork.

**_2 Hours later_**

Nono arrived at the Varia mansion on time. In front of the huge doors just outside of the mansion was Catrina. She wearing a light brown coat with a red scarf around her neck. She wore some casual jeans, along with black tennis shoes. Her long black hair was swaying slightly with the wind.

"Grandpa," Catrina greeted with a huge bright grin on her face.

"Catrina," Nono replied with a warm smile on his face. "I hope you didn't wait long."

"No, I didn't wait that long. Papa just left a while ago."

"I see, well let's go then. Some hot drink should be appreciated, yes?"

"Of course."

Catrina followed Nono into the black, sleek car. Once inside, she felt the warmness of the heater start to seep into her skin. A small sigh of relief escaped from her lips. Soon the car started to move and silence filled the car. Catrina turned her head and looked out of the window and smiled slightly.

"Are the others coming to the party?" She asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes," Nono replied with a warm smile. "Though some later than others."

"I see," She whispered then went back to silently looking out of the window.

* * *

The sleek black car parked in front of a cafe in the local town nearby the mansion. Both girl and mafia boss went out of the car with relief written in their faces. Their bodies have gotten very stiff at the car ride and as a plus the ride made them very drowsy. Catrina shivered as the cold started to cruelly scratch her face, making the heat in her skin disappear in an instant. Catrina walked alongside the Ninth, wanting to escape the clutches of the cold environment around them. Once inside, both went in and started their orders.

Nono casually scanned the area around them as they both sat down with their drinks. At this time it was usually the young people that hung around the cafe. Despite that, the few adults that were around were treated with respect. He also noticed how some of the younger men stared at Catrina as she took a sip of her hot chocolate with an air of elegance around her. A small faint smirk emerged from his lips. He decided to give his son and his right hand man a good lecture. But that was for later, for now he had hot coffee to drink and a whole afternoon to spend some time with his little granddaughter.

After the hot drinks, both went out to different shops in courtesy of Catrina of course. Nono tried to be a bit happy of course, but couldn't help feeling very worn out after the trip. During the car ride, he slept.

* * *

Squalo was the first to arrive and notice the decorations that hung around the halls and rooms of the Varia mansion. In the middle of it all, was his daughter.

"What's all this about?" He asked causally yet hesitantly, he could see his subordinates enjoying themselves in the background.

"It's New years," Catrina replied with a grin. "Grandpa also approved along with Xanxus, also Grandpa wants to talk to you both."

Squalo's eyebrow rose up. "Where are they?"

"Office," Catrina replied then noticed Bel coming in with an annoyed look on his face. "Ah wait Bel don't tear those down!"

Squalo watched as she tried to get the blond prince from ripping off the decorations with amusement before turning around and briskly walking into Xanxus' office. He opened the door and went in then closed it behind him.

"So what do you want?"He asked, slightly uncomfortable with him around. Despite the old man's visits, Squalo never got around to casually talking his Boss' boss despite Nono's insistance. Xanxus found this very amusing and took no part in stopping his father to Squalo's despair. Squalo, despite his brash behavior, was a stickler for formality.

"I want to talk about Catrina," Nono said with a serious tone. Both men straighten up more and mentally forced their minds to listen to him. Both men have grudgingly known that despite Xanxus' dislike to his father, he was still accurate when raising Catrina during the past year. Thus Xanxus' dislike had lessened slightly to Nono's relief.

"What about her?" Xanxus asked, no malice evident in his tone.

"You two do know what her age is right?"Nono continued. Both men looked at each other and shrugged, wondering why age came into play.

"She's 15," Nono said with an exasperated sigh. "Meaning that she's old enough and also pretty enough to be noticed by boys."

"What does that have to do with Catrina," Squalo asked, not getting what Nono meant. The Vongola boss mentally hit his head on the wall. He knew these guys were smart yet it amazed him how little they know about parenthood.

"It means that someday she might start dating," Nono said. "Do you realize what that means?"

"I don't mind if she dates," Xanxus piped up, Squalo nodded in agreement to his boss' words. Suddenly both froze as the weight of those words took on full weight. Their faces turned pale at the thought of some delinquent dating their daughter and taking her away. Nono on the other hand enjoyed their reaction as soon as both his son and his right hand man realized what he meant. A small amused smirk faintly marred his features.

"Now let's go enjoy the party," Nono said with a happy glint in his eyes. "I believe it's almost the countdown for New Years."

Xanxus and Squalo got out of their shock and slowly nodded. The thee men walked out of the office, only to face a mansion filled with Varia members, all celebrating while also watching the clocks and waiting for the countdown.

"Oh I can't wait," Catrina said with exitement and with her eyes lighting up. The three men smiled. Both Xanxus and Squalo silently agreed to enjoy this moment with her first then in the future destroy anyone who tries to break her heart or even try to court her.

* * *

**6 months later**

Catrina couldn't hold in the blood that was running down her side. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to clear her own vision. She was losing too much blood at the moment. At any moment, she could faint but resisted the will to do it. Catrina was still too deep into enemy territory.

On her other hand was a small phone given to her by her father,Squalo. She quickly dialed his number and set it on speaker.

"Voi Catrina what's wrong?" His father asked as soon as he picked up the call.

"I need back up," Catrina weakly replied. "I'm losing quite a bit of blood and there are still quite a lot of guards, the target is dead though."

Squalo gritted his teeth and hung up, immediately, he made his men go to the location where Catrina was. He threatened them that if they don't arrive by at least minutes, they would not live to see another day.

Catrina ran and ran. She shouldn't have underestimated the enemy. Now here she was at their mercy, running around like a scared little mouse.

Another shot. And another.

Catrina just ran, not minding the searing pain of a bullet going through her flesh. A small smile reached her lips as she saw a ledge. Immediately she ran even faster and jumped into the air before landing into cement spikes below. Thankfully only one of them pierced her on the stomach.

"Crud," she whispered and coughed out blood.

She was still alive but dying slowly and painfully. Catrina wanted to live, she wanted to live her moments with the Varia, her new family. As her vision started to darken, Catrina was trying to fight the urge to sleep. That was when she remembered. This was what made her resist even more. But it was futile, in the end, the girl succumbed to the great sleep.

* * *

Squalo looked at the coffin with a hollow feeling. He blamed himself for sending the girl to the mission by herself when she insisted to. He blamed himself for having to rely on his subordinates in her time of need.

As they buried her body to the ground, the Varia stood there in silence. Once on the ground, Xanxus stood up and dumped his vodka down on the coffin out. His face showed no emotions, yet pain was visible in his eyes.

Vongola Nono watched with sadness as Xanxus was once again in pain. He couldn't bare to watch as his son took up another bottle and drank it to drown away his pain.


	4. Reflections and Beginnings

Chapter 4: Reflections and Beginnings

* * *

**A/N: I didn't expect the reactions from the last chapter..Really not at all. Despite all that thank you for reading. Thank you all again for the reviews and the views. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR, seriously I don't**

* * *

She was pathetic.

First she casually jumped from a high height and then she got spiked by cement spikes. What was worse was that she finally got her memories just before she died. Right before she freaking died. Yet somehow she felt calm.

Catrina had hope. Not only because of her memories but also because of what will happen next in a span six months.

With that, she gave her final breath and died calmly.

* * *

For most of his life, Sawada Tsunayoshi would sit down in front of his sister and tell her about his life and how their mother was doing. The only problem was that it was one sided. His sister was in a coma due to a car accident that had occurred since she was 5.

Now here he was, at age 13. He was still tiredly clinging on to the hope that she would awake. Fortunately for him, his wait was well worth the reward.

Sawada Natsuki opened her eyes to see a very happy and cheerful brother, grown up yet still looking cute as ever in her perspective of course.

"Tsu," she hoarsely whispered.

"Don't talk," his brother said with a worried look in his face. "Just take it easy."

Natsuki looked at her brother and smiled warmly. She slowly closed her eyes and slept, knowing that she would wake up again with her little brother at her side.

* * *

Iemetsu looked down at the letter that his beloved wife had sent him and laughed happily, tears were streaming down his face. Finally, his little Natsu had woken up from her coma. He hugged the letter then wiped the joy tears from his eyes.

Quickly, he went over to where Nono is to request a special trip back to Japan. Once he arrived though, he saw Xanxus sitting on a chair across from Nono. He blinked a bit and entered the office cautiously.

"Did something happen?" He asked, noticing Xanxus dull eyes and the heavy atmosphere that engulfed the office.

"Ah yes," Nono replied with his eyes softening slightly as he gazed at the scarred man. "You know of the new female recruit that was adopted by the Varia?"

Iemetsu nodded. Everyone in the Vongola knew her, the child that had calmed down the wielder of the Flames of Wrath. He felt his gut twist up slightly as he realized that something must have happened to her.

"Did something happen to her?" He asked him.

Nono hesitated and looked over to Xanxus before replying, "She's dead."

The adviser understood immediately. He inwardly sighed and patted Xanxus on the back.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he softly said.

Xanxus just glared at the adviser, not wanting the pity. Yet he looked so broken. Iemetsu wished that he could do something to ease the pain. Upon further thinking, he decided to postpone his request feeling that it would be very selfish of him to ask such a request at the current time. Nono sighed softly and looked at his broken son, he knew only time will have to fix his wounds.

* * *

**Six Months + some time later**

* * *

"FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS IN THE FREAKING EARTH TSUNAYOSHI WAKE UP!" Natsuki shouted angrily.

Tsuna woke up with and quickly sat up.

"Ohayo Tsu," Natsuki said with a childish giggle.

Tsuna sighed and rubbed his eyes. He wondered if the neighbors were okay with that sort of volume at such a time.

"What time is it?" He asked groggily.

"You know what time it is," Natsuki replied with a playful smirk before leaving his room.

Tsuna's eyes widened and he quickly rushed to prepare for school. Inwardly in his mind, he was crying once again because of his predicament. Natsuki just waited for her brother while looking down at her watch to see how many minutes it takes for Tsuna to realize that she woke up him up at least 2 hours before school started.

"10 minutes," Natsuki said as she saw Tsuna glare at her with his uniform fully on him.

"Na-nee," Tsuna said, seething slightly.

Natsuki just smiled brightly at her younger brother and made a heart sign from both of her hands.

"Love ya too Tsu," she cheerfully replied.

One look at her made him just let it go. Tsuna sighed and sat himself down. Ever since Natsuki woke up, she had been going through some therapy to help with her coordination and speach. In the span of six months, she was back to normal again but she was held back a couple of grades. Despite being 17 years old, Natsuki, like her younger brother was slightly slow at learning.

When 3 months of therapy had passed, Natsuki was allowed to go back to school. As days went by, Natsuki saw some change in her brother when Reborn, the so called baby tutor arrived. She also quickly saw how friends, one by one started to be made. Slowly, but surely, Tsuna was unknowingly gaining respect from her older sister.

"Tsu-kun is growing up nicely huh?" Nana softly said to Natsuki as she watched Reborn greet Tsuna with the usual '_ciaossu' _ before smiling innocently over to their direction.

"Yes he is," Natsuki replied with a small smile. "I just wish that I were there with him when he grew up."

Nana lightly patted her daughter's head and shook her head with a warm smile forming on her face.

"Na-chan," Nana said to her. "He knows that you still love him, despite the time gap."

Natsuki didn't look convinced, Nana just gave her an assuring look before looking over to the others with a bright and warm smile. Natsuki looked at her mother then at her brother. She then looked over to the kids then to Bianchi.

"Don't try to hold it in," Reborn said to her with a gentle smile on his face.

Natsuki blinked a bit and looked at the fedora wearing baby with surprise. She then looked over to her brother, his eyes were telling her the same thing.

"Thank you," she said with a warm smile.

Soon, the usual things started to happen around the table. Reborn would be stealing Tsuna's food. Natsuki would be giving food to her younger brother. Bianchi would always eat with a small smile on her face, while the three children would happily chat. Nana would happily watch the scene with that bright smile of hers.

Tears fell from her eyes and ran down her cheeks as Natsuki realized how she fit into the picture. A mix of pain and happiness was felt as she cried.

"Are?" Lambo said, noticing the tears. "Natsuki-nee are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Natsuki replied with a small smile. "I'm just, happy.."

And indeed she was, yet she still felt unhappy as if this scene was incomplete.

* * *

Xanxus stood up from his seat and looked out of the window. Behind him was a beautifully designed box. In it were 7 half Vongola rings. Now all he had to do is to get the other halves of the rings. A small smirk emerged from his lips. So far everything has gone smoothly. He glanced back to the untouched Vodka bottle and took a drink from it.

'_Soon,' _He thought proudly. '_Just you wait brat.' _

Unknown to him, Iemetsu had given the box filled with the other half Vongola rings to a young teenage boy named Basil at that moment. Basil just accepted it and quickly went out, throwing the original plan that the Varia made out of the window.

Xanxus sighed, feeling slightly more calm. He then looked out of the window once more to the direction of her gravestone. He wanted to visit her before they set out to get the other half set.

* * *

Squalo laid down a bouquet of flowers in front of the grave and patted the gravestone before he silently left.

* * *

Mammon and Bel came together at the gravestone to see the bouquet already there.

"Shame," Mammon said as she laid down the bouquet that they had already bought.

"Shishi doesn't matter," he said with a cheerful grin. "I bet she would've loved it."

Mammon nodded then disappeared. Bel just pouted and left.

* * *

Levi and Lussuria both were surprised that there were already two bouquets laid down on the grave.

"Mou," Lussuria said with a huff. "Why didn't they tell us?"

Levi just sighed and laid down his bouquet, Lussuria did the same. Both left soon after.

* * *

Xanxus was the last to arrive at Catrina's gravestone. He had a bottle of Vodka in his hand, unopened and yet to be drunk. With a bit of force, the scarred man opened the bottle and poured half of the bottle's contents to the gravestone and drunk the rest. He then left with confident strides.


	5. Whole

Chapter 5: Whole

* * *

**A/N: Got to say, I was hoping to reveal the secret at a sort of slow pace but I decided to just reveal it right now. Anyways thank you so much for the reviews and views.**

* * *

_Somewhere in some random place, Checker face grinned slightly as he was notified of the last piece of her soul just arrived back to it's host. He had to admit, the little girl was a good player, avoiding him for almost 12 years._

"_You win my little frozen sky," he murmured in amusement._

* * *

Natsumi looked over to the little blue butterfly approaching her. A huge grin formed on her face. She extended her arm and let the little insect land on her finger before it melted. Natsumi closed her eyes and her brows furrowed a bit. A small frown replacing the bright grin.

"I'm so stupid," she murmured softly before heading towards her classroom.

* * *

Ever since Reborn met Natsuki, he had always kept an extra eye on her. He wanted to also bash Iemetsu's head on the wall. The man was an idiot, sending such outdated information on his family despite Natsuki being on a coma for the last 12 years. Yet there was no changing the past the girl was awake now and her little brother was the heir instead of her. There was no changing that.

So, Reborn watched. He watched and waited. Then he made his conclusion. Sawada Tsunayoshi really was the best candidate for Vongola Decimo despite his sister being the older of the two. Iemetsu really did make the right choice, yet he knew the man's ideals would have to be broken. Natsuki was still fragile despite her fast recovery. Once Tsuna was made Decimo, her life along with Nana's life would be in danger. There was no avoiding that both would be harmed one way or another by the mafia. The secret would have to be told.

* * *

An outing sounded like the best idea to both siblings.

Yet it turned into something else.

Natsuki stood frozen as he saw the silver haired man fight the young teen with the blue flames. She watched as he knocked her brother back into the wall. She watched as he approached her with the sharp sword.

"Natsuki!" He heard his brother yell out at her as he tried to protect her.

_Clang. _

The silver haired man smirked as he saw the girl's eyes turn golden orange. All around her were frozen sky flames that looked and felt like metal.

"Superbi Squalo," she calmly blurted out. "Your Catrina is not dead."

Squalo felt his blood run cold. He jumped backwards, only to be interrupted by the Chiavarone Don. Natsuki just ignored their talk and willed her frozen flames to return, her eyes once again turning back to it's original color. Then she passed out.

* * *

"_I must say I'm impressed," A voice said to Natsuki. "To think that you could still be able to use your flames after just getting back the last piece of your soul." _

"_I'm impressed with myself too," Natsuki replied while shaking her head. "Checkerface-sama, I'm honored by your compliment."_

"_It just proves your power," Checkerface replied, showing himself to her. "It's still growing, like your brothers."_

"_My brother is stronger though," Catrina said with a small proud smile. "I know he will soon surpass me and the greatest hitman." _

_Checkerface chuckled and nodded in agreement. He couldn't wait to see that moment, but for now he just had to wait and watch. _

"_You should wake up," Checkerface said before disappearing._

_Natsuki sighed and willed herself to go to the light._

* * *

Natsuki woke up to see a pair of worried caramel brown eyes staring at her.

"Tsu," she said with a smile.

She inwardly groaned, it seems like waking up to see worried faces are starting to be a thing for her.

"Natsuki," Tsuna said with relief laced in his voice. "Are you okay?"

Natsuki nodded in reply. So far she knew that she broke no bones. Suddenly her thought went back to Tsuna and that young teen with the blue flames.

"That boy," Natsuki said. "Is is okay?"

"Yeah," Tsuna replied. "He's fine, his name is Basil by the way."

Natsuki sighed in relief, she was slightly worried knowing Squalo's capabilities of killing a person.

"Na-nee," Tsuna softly said. "Those metal things around you."

"I'll explain later," Natsumi assured.

Inwardly she was laughing knowing it was just frozen flames. She was glad for the look of it or she would have angered the silver haired man even more. It was a relief that she would have to keep her secret even longer.

Tsuna just sighed worriedly and left her, leaving Natsuki to mutter softly to herself something about losing another bet to that guy.

Meaning while Reborn was nearby watching Natsuki with pure interest. He was not an idiot, he could see that those were dying will flames in their frozen version. Also when she had used that ability, his pacifier glowed as if she were an arcobaleno. That was another point to have the hitman's attention come to the girl.

Natsuki just closed her eyes again and lulled herself to a deep sleep.

* * *

_Catrina, no Natsuki opened her eyes and sat down on her seat at the head of the table. _

"_Welcome back boss," a figure said from one of the six seats. "Congrats on winning the bet, You're now even with Checkerface-sama with the number of wins and defeats."_

_Natsuki nodded and gave the figure a thankful smile before looking at the occupants of the seat. Once she concluded that they were all there, she snapped her fingers to reveal their true forms. One by one, the figured formed into 3 female adults and 3 male adults. _

"_I see you've all been busy," Natsuki said with a small amused smile as she saw them with a tired look. _

"_Same to you too," one of the males spoke up. "You've just woken up after you got back your piece of the soul labeled Catrina." _

"_I know," Natsuki said with a small sigh. "Though as Catrina, I learned a bit of a lesson."_

"_And that is?" the same male asked. _

"_Love can come from the most weirdest of people," Natsuki replied with a serious look on her face. _

_The rest just sweatdropped yet they agreed. After all they weren't the type of people that were considered normal. Over half of the people there were in the mafia, some of them are also prisoners of the Vindice. What was even more weirder was having a 17 year old be their boss. _

"_So," one of the females said with a small cough. "What are we called here for boss?" _

"_Ah the reason for the meeting," Natsuki said with a small smile. "Is because you've all been assigned to a little mission that Checkerface-sama approved." _

_Cheers resonated from the people. It had been a while(only two days) since their last mission. A small warm smile formed on Natsuki. _

"_So what's the mission?" one them asked with enthusiasm. _

"_Ah the mission is to watch over the Ring Battle," Natsuki replied. "Checkerface-sama said that in this period, wild flames will be the most dangerous." _

"_That's to be expected," one of the women scoffed. "We are talking about a pure sky flame going up against the flame of wrath." _

"_That might not even happen," Natsuki replied. "But we will have to be careful, Reborn might be watching and I might have been the one to tip him off about that."_

_Natsuki cringed as she felt the cold glares stab her. _

"_I'm sorry," she said with a sniffle. "I unconsciously produced my frozen flames out of defense."_

"_What else did you mess up Boss?" one of the women coldly asked. _

"_I may have told the Varia a hint that Catrina..ahem me is alive?" Natsuki said with a squeaky mouse voice. _

"_She's just a child She's just a child," one of them murmured to themselves as they got out their weapons. _

"_P-please don't hurt me," Natsuki whimpered, her eyes turning big and doe-like. _

_The adults stopped and looked at the girl. _

"_Tell me that's not her chibi mode," one of the males said with a groan._

_The other adults just stood silently and put away their weapons, soon the said male also did the same. Natsuki saw this and smiled brightly, blinding almost everybody in that area. _

"_Ugh let's just wake up and do our missions," one of the male tiredly said. _

_One by by, the adults disappeared, murmuring something about cute genes being too dangerous._

* * *

Natsuki woke up once again to see more sets of worried eyes and wondered if this was punishment for everything that she had done. It was the third time and the second time in one day. She had noted that it was now in the afternoon.

"Na-nee," Tsuna said worriedly.

"I'm fine," Natsuki said with an assuring smile. "Besides, I have to tell you about my weapons right?"

Reborn frowned but accepted the half lie and half truth explanation. As Natsuki talked, he noted that she really did have a connection with the mafia but only mentally due to her comatose state. He also noted that her informant was currently a Vindice prisoner.

"And that's it," Natsuki said with a shy smile after explaining her situation.

Tsuna was pale and trying to digest the information though Reborn knew that his hyper intuition would pick up the lies soon enough when given the time and more evidence.

"I'm sorry Tsu," Natsuki apologized as she saw Tsuna's pale face.

And she really was truly sorry.


	6. The Frozen Sky

Chapter 6:The Frozen Sky

* * *

**A/N: ****Just in case that no one picked up: ****Catrina is actually a piece of a soul. That's why she didn't remember anything. Her real identity is actually Sawada Natsuki.**

** Also things in italics are in a dream. I'm sorry for not clarifying**

* * *

Iemetsu looked at his daughter glee as she came home with his tuna-fish. Despite his slightly sluggish state, he just hugged her. Tears formed in his eyes as he hugged her.

"My little Natsu," he whispered, hugging her tightly. "I missed you."

"I missed you too dad," Natsuki softly replied with a small smile. "But..." Natsuki escaped from her father's hug and kicked him on the leg.

"Not coming home for a long time," she angrily said. "And leaving Tsu and mom to deal with my state is unforgivable."

Iemetsu paled and started to stutter his excuse only to stopped his daughter's cold glare.

"Unless you start coming home more frequently and start caring more about mom and tsu," She continued. "I won't forgive you."

Iemetsu's jaw dropped as his daughter dragged her little brother up the stairs with no backward glance to his direction. Reborn on the other hand, just watched in amusement as Iemetsu quickly went to the corner to sulk.

* * *

About 10 days were given to Tsuna and his guardians to train for the upcoming fight. Everybody was busy, especially Tsuna and his guardians. They had all managed to be excused from school, especially Natsuki.

Recently,Natsuki had a problem with a certain hitman. She knew that her explanation would get a lot of suspicion from him. Yet she didn't know it was to the point where she too had to train alongside Tsuna and participate in the guy's little all that, she still had the time to meet up with her friends in her dreams.

* * *

_Natsuki once again woke up to see the usual set up of the room. She saw the figure her friends once again sitting down on their proper places before sitting down on her chair. _

"_Are you okay Boss?" one of the males spoke up as soon as she had taken her seat. _

"_I'm fine," Natsuki replied with a tired sigh. "I was just forced into one of Reborn's little training antics." _

_All of the adults stiffened slightly as they saw small cuts and bruises cover her arms as the fog around them lifted to reveal their true forms. _

"_Let me kill that man," one of the women sharply said with a cheshire grin on her face. _

"_It's just Spartan like training," Natsuki defended, immediately seeing that grin. "Besides, these things are not that bad compared to the type of training that hitman has made my brother go through." _

_All of the adults went quiet yet couldn't help but agree. There was a reason why most of the mafia men wanted Reborn to teach their heirs. He was simply just one of the best. _

"_On to the meeting," Natsuki said. "As you all know, the Sun battle is about to start soon."_

_One of the male grinned, his white teeth shining. _

"_That means," Natsuki continued. "You will be up for this one Alek."_

_Alek nodded, his eyes lighting up at the mention of the match. Alek was a Vindice prisoner yet recently, he had gotten out due to special permissions from his own family. He was in prison because he had broken Omerta by telling his wife and kids about the mafia due to stress. In the end, he had lost his wife and kids because of kidnapping. _

"_I'll fulfill this service," Alek said with a serious look on his face, his blue eyes shining with resolve. _

"_We all know you will," Natsuki replied. "You're all dismissed, Alek meet me at Nanimori shrine."_

_With that, the whole place disappeared and Natsuki woke up to see a set of curious pair of black eyes looking at her._

* * *

"Ciaossu," Reborn said.

"Hey," Natsuki said, her lips twitching slightly downwards. "What time is it?"

Reborn didn't answer, with a sigh, the elder Sawada sibling sat up and took a look at her watch.

"Baka-Natsu," Reborn said.

"Hai Reborn?" Natsuki asked calmly, not looking up from her watch.

"Don't you dare run out right now," Reborn coldly said to her.

"I'll be fine," the girl said, looking up with a bright smile a flowery background suddenly popping up behind her.

Reborn could've sworn that he saw Tsuna and Nana in that small picture yet he didn't. He didn't budge also with that bright smile beaming it's full power at him. Mentally though, alarms were ringing but he forced his body to remain calm with the least effort.

"Baka-Natsuki," Reborn coldly said at her with a cold voice that could cut through almost everything.

"Bu-bye!" Natsuki quickly said before opening the window and jumping out.

Reborn immediately followed, concealing his presence. He watched as Natsuki ran towards the direction of the Shrine, a small smirk emerged from his lips. It was about the same speed as Tsuna would run whenever he would force him to run. With that, he decided to just follow and see why the girl wanted to go out after her little nap.

Natsuki slowed down as soon as she reached her destination. In front of her was a tall man with a jet black suit, dirty blond hair, and sparkling blue eyes. Beside him was a Vindice member, who just bowed at her before disappearing.

"Nice to finally see you Boss," he said in a deep baritone voice.

"Alek," Natsuki said with a bright smile, the flower background suddenly popping up behind her.

"Shit," Alek said and looked away. "Don't go into straight chibi mode on me now Boss, agh it's upgraded now."

"What do you mean?" the girl asked, purely confused.

"N-nevermind," the man replied, trying his best to withstand this wave of moe(cuteness) in front of him. "Anyways, I'm all set for the mission."

"Good," Natsuki said, her face reverting back to normal. "Just be careful of your presence."

Alek nodded and walked away, while Natsuki looked at the tree where Reborn was hidden and sighed.

"You're making me lose my bet," she whined. "Not cool Reborn."

"I always get my answers," Reborn said, jumping out of his hiding spot. "Now spill Baka-Natsuki."

"Fine," Natsuki said, shivering slightly under his cold gaze. "As you know, Primo perfected the Zero Point Breakthrough effect, despite being a dying will flame user."

Reborn nodded, making sure his ears catch every word of it.

"Dying will flames in it's negative state is always Frozen,"Natsuki continued. "My flames are the negative version of dying will flames."

"That still doesn't explain why my pacifier glowed," Reborn piped up.

"Ah that," Natsuki calmly replied. "Negative dying will flames are very rare even more rare than sky flames. It's form is usually the more flamey and wild one. The reason why it's frozen is because of a curse and a blessing given to me and a few others by a certain Checker-faced man."

Reborn froze, he felt his blood boil at that mention. Natsuki just stopped and waited for him to control his anger before he signaled her to continue.

"Instead of a pacifier," Natsuki continued. "We have pocket watch and for our curse.."

Natsuki stopped and frowned slightly then continued.

"We are forever stuck with this power until it destroys our bodies," Catrina softly said. "Everyday, we have to use the leftover dying will flames produced by the world to make sure our power doesn't freeze our blood."

"When did you receive this curse?" Reborn asked, his fedora now cover his eyes.

"When I was five," Natsuki replied. "I was the last one that received this curse in the current set."

Silence.

Reborn was seething. It was bad enough to create the Arcabolenos and curse them. It was bad enough that he was stuck in a baby form, not able to grow up. Now here was another set of cursed people all doomed to die if not enough flames are administered into their systems.

"And you haven't told anyone?" Reborn asked.

"No,"Natsuki, feeling a sharp feeling in the back of her neck. "But I'll get in trouble for telling you."

Reborn looked over to the glaring blond man that was standing behind her. He had already sensed him but ignored him while Natsuki was speaking.

"I'm sorry Alek," Natsuki said.

"No, the one at fault is the Arcobaleno," Alek said. "You better not spout this stuff to anyone else."

Reborn just smirked slightly. In front of him was a seasoned hitman, almost close to his level but not quite. His mind was whirring slightly, wondering who the cursed others are.

"Alek," Natsuki coldly said, her eye color turning slightly orange.

"But Boss," Alek said but closed his mouth as soon as he saw the stern orange eyes look at him.

Reborn watched and smirked slightly at the scene. He knew in time even Tsuna would be like that. A powerful figure, worthy of Vongola Primo.

* * *

Squalo looked at the box with the rings on it. Yet his mind was somewhere else. The words of the girl with the metal rings around her resonated in his mind.

"Is she really dead?" Squalo murmured to himself. Somewhere in his gut, he knew that she really was alive.


	7. The Sun Battle

_Chapter 7:The Sun battle_

* * *

**Disclaimer: I Don't Own KHR. **

* * *

It was finally the first day of the battle between the Varia and Tsuna and his family. Reborn ordered Natsuki to join alongside him to watch the battles. Of course both siblings refused to have that happen. But reborn, being reborn got what he wanted in the end, Natsuki being even more displeased realizing that Alek had to go with her. And that was how Natsuki ended up having Tsuna meet her subordinate in uncomfortable circumstances.

"This is Alek," Natsuki said once she arrived with the tall blond man by her side. "He's a friend."

Alek bowed, ignoring the glare coming from Gokudera. "It's nice to finally meet my Boss' brother."

Natsuki's eye twitch as Tsuna once again paled and looked at her with a silent demand of an explanation.

"eff you Alek," Natsuki growled while glaring at him. "I specifically told you to not make my little tsu worry."

Alek just smirked and kept quiet.

"Are you listening?!" Natsuki exclaimed. "My little tsu's face is pale because of you...YOU!"

Alek hummed, ignoring Natsuki's little rant while his smirk turned into an amused smile. Yamamoto just laughed while Tsuna was trying to calm down Natsuki, who was about to say a whole bunch of embarrassing things.

"Ah wait are they here yet?" Yamamoto asked, breaking away from the whole scene.

"They've been on standby for a while," A pink haired woman replied. "Though I am not aware that you are allowed here."

"Alek's with me Cervello," Natsuki replied. "Vindice just recently released him and his gaurd is nearby, no worries."

Tsuna gaped and quickly looked around to see the Vindice gaurd show up beside Alek. Though he did now understand what that horrible feeling around them was. Both women looked at each other then nodded, signalling that there is no problem with his presence. Once again the Vindice disappeared after turning his head towards Natsuki and bowing a bit.

"Natsuki," Tsuna said with a pleading tone. "Please tell me after this.."

"I will," Natsuki replied wth a thin smile. She looked over to the Varia members who seem eager to get this over with. Squalo on the other hand looked ready to murder them especially her which made her chest tighten.

"This battle tonight will be the sun battle," one of the women said. Natsuki looked over to Sasagawa Ryohei then to Lussuria who stepped up with a small amused smile on his face. Beside her, she could sense Alek shifting exitedly, ready to witness the battle.

"Good luck Sasagawa-san," Natsuki said with a small heart warming smile. Ryhei grinned at her upon hearing her.

"I'll make sure to give Hana that love letter of yours too," Natsuki added with a wink and smirk. Ryohei sputtered as his face turned red and tried to deny what she had said. Natsuki just laughed and soon stopped as soon as the Cervello showed them the arena, which was specifically set for the qualities of the sun.

* * *

Natsuki looked at the traces of sun flames coming out of both men with her specially made sunglasses. She was glad that she had brought them along with her. The girl had not expected the ring to be so bright yet she could see why the ring was set up as it was.

"**Destroying the misfortune that attacks the family with their own body, they become the sun that brightly shines upon an area**," Reborn had said to them.

Natsuki had evaluated the two, she had already knew Luss from her memories from Catrina and Ryohei she knew a bit from her childhood. So far from what she could observe, both were about evenly matched despite the appearance of Luss' white hair was slightly drenched from perspiration, suddenly making her eyes widen a bit.

"Knuckle," she murmured in awe and soft enough so only she could hear it.

As Natsuki watched, she also noted her little brother's expressions. It went from shock to awe then down to worry. Especially when the boy's sister came by in the middle of the match to gave him a psychological power up. She could feel herself relax a bit upon noticing small stream of sun flames clearly coming off the girl.

By the time Lussuria was defeated the Gola Mosca sent out a missile, she felt the shockwaves of an explosion nearby. Her eyes went wide with shock as she looked over to source only to see a very nearly dead Lussuria. Her lips curl downwards in distaste and her eyes narrowed down to a glare that was beamed towards the Varia.

"Another hint," she hissed, her voice dripping with venom. "She just saw that."

Squalo watched as Natsuki just sharply turned around and left angrily, stomping slightly on the ground. He then looked around to see no one. He frowned slightly but just left as soon as he said a few confident words.

* * *

Going back in defeat didn't seem to faze their Boss the slightest. Squalo didn't care either way, he was still thinking back to the brown haired girl's words. If Catrina was still alive that would mean she would have improved too.

He scoffed silently. As if that would happen. She was inexperienced even when she was alive. He would have sensed someone watching them nearby, Mammon too would have felt her presence. Even if she did improve, the time frame would have been too short to actually catch up to their level. After all it was only more than six months since her death.

Yet his gut was telling him otherwise; That she was alive, that she was watching. That the girl's words were true. Squalo had never felt more conflicted. Yet he couldn't just blab out these things with Xanxus. In truth, the guy was truly crushed when she died. The way he would go around and help Squalo take care of her, it was obvious he loved her dearly. Guilt started to coil up in his heart and squeezing it tightly.

* * *

The other Varia members knew that something was up with their long haired captain after he had returned to Italy with those fake rings. The guy had paced back and forth in his room with a pensive look in his face. Even his ear shattering voice was not present in the Headquarters during that time he was in his room.

Now once again, they saw the long haired captain looking out of the window with a distracted look. His eyes were glazed over with a milky thin layer on top of his eyes. Everyone almost fell down to the ground to see their Captain in such a tranquil state. Bel had had to pinch his cheeks to just see if he wasn't dreaming. Levi turned into a frozen statue, while Mammon just checked and rechecked the state of his mind just to make sure that it was no illusion.

Then Squalo turned his head over to their direction.

"Oh," he said with a troubled frown and then went back to staring at the window.

Everyone was horrified. A tranquil Squalo was much more to be feared. With quick strides, the other members just left and closed the door, not even daring on asking Squalo about his recent behavior.

* * *

**Omake:Catrina's adventures**

Squalo looked down at Catrina and frowned slightly.

"What are you doing brat?" He asked as Catrina looked up from her hug.

Her brown eyes just glimmered and her smile was huge and big. Sparkles seem to surround the girl, hurting Squalo's eyes just slightly.

"Happy Father's day," Catrina happily said.

Squalo tensed up.

"Father's day?" Squalo asked.

"Yep," Catrina replied then let go of him.

Squalo inwardly sighed, his body wanted him to hug the girl again. Yet he was more curious about what the girl would do for the event. He looked down at her raven black hair as she bended down to reach the gift in his bag.

"Here," Catrina said and held out the box of chocolates. "Happy Father's day papa."

Squalo's mouth twitched upwards as he ruffled her hair and took the box of chocolates.

"You made these?" He asked in a gentle tone.

"Ah yeah," the girl replied. "When you eat it, you have to make sure to tell me how it is."

Squalo's smile quickly sharpened into an amused smirk.

"Of course," he replied.

Another bright smile with sparkles.

Squalo swore that he might go blind as he watched his daughter skips upwards to Xanxus' room.

Catrina had managed to sneak by Levi. Thankfully, the guy was a bit dense to be fooled by checking out the small distraction that she had made. Gently twisting the metal knob, she opened the door just enough for her to go in. Once in, she gently closed the door.

"What do you want trash?" Xanxus asked coldly from his desk.

"Boss it's me Catrina," Catrina replied, a small smile coming from her lips. "Happy Father's day."

Xanxus sighed and stood up from his seat and from his paperwork. Inwardly he was glad that he could escape this paperwork even if it was a short time.

"Squalo's your dad you brat," Xanxus said. "What's the point of including me?"

"Both of you are my dads," Catrina replied cheerfully. "Because even you helped me to take care of me when I was fazed with my memory loss."

Xanxus snorted, about to retort only to be stopped by a box of chocolates waved in front of his face. He just took the box and smirked slightly before opening the box and popping in one of the chocolates into his mouth.

"Not bad brat," Xanxus said as soon as he swallowed the chocolate.

A huge sparkling grin appeared from her face. Xanxus almost did a doubletake. Yet inside of him, something warm spread through his body, something that he hadn't experience in a long time.

Happiness.

"Alright brat," Xanxus said with a reluctant sigh. "I gotta do my paperwork…..good work ya brat."

Catrina smiled again with one of those bright sparkly smiles before leaving his office and running into an angry looking Levi.

"Eeep," she squeaked quietly before running away from the angry man.


	8. Interlude A

**_Chapter 8:Interlude A_**

* * *

**Warning: OOC Varia**

**Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn does NOT belong to me, not even in a million years**

* * *

The mansion was all to quiet for Xanxus' liking. First his silver haired second in command suddenly goes mute and keeps himself locked out in his room then he freaked out the others with his strange behavior. Now with Lussuria in the hospital, the quietness was getting all too worse.

For the first time in a long time, Xanxus got out of his chair and went out to seek his subordinates, which he knew were all in the huge living room. He slammed open the door, only to see them all sitting in the couches in silence. A small amused smirk arose from his lips.

"Where's he?" He asked, not seeing Squalo in the small little crowd.

"His room." Bel replied then shivered slightly at the thought.

Xanxus noticed that the Cheshire grin that the small prince was famous for was replaced with a small scared frown. He could scarcely hold his laugh as he saw the sight before him. Full fledges assassins before him were cowering in fear because of some sort of silence from the once loud second in command. He just left and went over to the man's bedroom.

He tried opening it only to find it locked. His laughter was suddenly dissipated like a burnt out fire. He lifted his leg and kicked with his full force, breaking the poor door into itty bitty shards of wood.

"Trash," Xanxus darkly said as he went into the door.

He was only met with a restrained anger look. Squalo's mouth had gone down into a scowl and his eyes fiercely glowed with a bright fire of anger. Xanxus scoffed slightly, strange behavior my ass, the guy was just restraining himself.

"You haven't acted like that ever since Catrina came by," Xanxus seriously said to the silver haired man. "You can stop acting like that."

That fire in his eyes died down. Xanxus winced slightly, seeing the pain and guilt mixed within those eyes. Both were silent between the two men. One contemplating about the girl, the other just feeling down right bad.

"She," Squalo said then shut his mouth, suddenly breaking the silence and once again gaining the scarred man's attention and curiosity.

"What?" Xanxus asked.

"There might be a chance that she's alive," Squalo said in an almost whisper tone.

Xanxus scoffed a bit and laughed bitterly.

"You were there to confirm her body," Xanxus replied coldly. "She was just a novice, not even skilled enough to fake her death."

"What about the people she knew before she met us?" Squalo asked sharply, narrowing his eyes. "The bodies that I saw didn't lie, she was more of our level before she forgot."

"We would have known about her companions when she was with us," Xanxus plainly said.

"Then what about the three day trip before the day she died?" Squalo reasoned. "We were out of touch with her due to circumstances yet they might have contacted her, might have had her regain her previous memories."

"THEN WHY THE HECK DID SHE CHOOSE THIS THEN?!" Xanxus shouted, finally snapping. "IF SHE'S ALIVE THEN WHY CHOOSE TO FAKE HER DEATH?!"

Squalo went silent, his eyes started to be glazed over with a milky film. Xanxus just huffed and took out a bottle of vodka from under his jacket. He twisted open the cap and took a swig of it and handed it to Squalo. The silver haired man just took the bottle and did the same.

"You know that small brunette girl brat next to that guy?" Squalo hoarsely said, feeling even more tired from saying more words.

"Yeah," Xanxus replied, vaguely remembered the girl glaring at him and holding the other brunette's arm.

"I think she might have connections with our brat," Squalo said.

"Impossible," Xanxus said with a sigh. "She has little knowledge about us, even the trash didn't know much about us based on what you had reported to me."

"I haven't told you everything," Squalo said with a small scoff. "The only reason is because it's something that doesn't need to distract you."

Xanxus opened his mouth to retort about that statement but was stopped by his own mind showing him the previous few minutes. He just shut his mouth. Squalo just gave him a look of 'I told you so.'

"She had told me about our brat being alive," Squalo continued. "On the first day, she had shown herself to be a powerful opponent, even that trash didn't know about her powers. How the heck does one Japanese kid know about our brat in the first place? Well that's only plausible if she was in contact with her before she met us."

Xanxus' mind clicked in understanding. What Squalo said was starting to become believable. Even when they adopted Catrina, they had made sure that her identity was never known. Only the Varia and the upper echelon of the Vongola know about her. They even heavily guarded her information and made her learn to wear multiple disguises just in case she was caught.

"Give me information about that brat," Xanxus ordered then left the room, feeling a weight come off his shoulders.

For now, he should concentrate on the battles and his victory. Squalo on the other hand just sighed and wearily layed down on his bed. In his mind, all these questions about Catrina popped up but she swatted them away. He knew that if his mind was tired, he wouldn't be able to concentrate. Not in the battle nor the search for the ever elusive Catrina.

The moment that the Sawada siblings and reborn returned home, Natsuki had started to calm down. Arriving at her bedroom had made her completely calm yet having regretful thoughts of what she had said out loud. She was not an idiot, she could see the sparks of curiosity fill the eyes of the companions around her despite their best efforts to hide it.

* * *

"Stupid," she silently said to herself. "Of course they had to do that, they are the Varia after all..of course the guys would be interested."

"Stupid."

"Idiot."

"Know how to use your brain."

These words came out of her own mouth as tears started to pool in her eyes.

"Stupid," she muttered one more time.

Images of her past life as Natsuki started to invade her eyes as tears fell down. The pleasant fights and the gruesome lessons given by the silver haired man. She missed those dearly yet she couldn't help but feel a pain in her chest as she realized how she shamelessly abandoned that all for a bet.

It's not a game.

Checkerface had told her several times. She just tuned him out and listened to her own thoughts. He had warned her on several occasions. Now here she was, suddenly bearing the weight of her own stupidity, desperately wishing for the clock to turn back. To not accept that ultimate bet that would cost her precious time with her family. To not break these people's hearts and make her feel so horrible.

* * *

Alek had sensed the distress with his boss as soon as the battle had ended. Therefore, he left her alone, deciding to watch Decimo's sun guardian by shamelessly freeloading. He approached the auburn haired girl and tapped her shoulder. She stopped and turned around.

"Yes?" she asked, looking up at him with curiosity.

"I was wondering if I can stay in your house for a while," Alek said with a small shy smile. "I could ask my b-friend but I don't want to be an inconvenience to her."

Kyoko frowned, thinking about it. She knew that it was ridiculous for her just to let a stranger in. She was not that naive.

"It's okay Kyoko," Ryohei said, noticing the conversation and stopping. "He can stay with us, you're a friend of Sawada's sister?"

"Yeah," Alek replied with a bright toothy grin. "Sorry about not introducing myself, I'm Alek, a friend of Sawada Natsuki."

Kyoko looked at the man and smiled slightly, still not convinced. Yet, if her brother approved of him, there was no problem. She could see that the blond man was truly grateful judging by his smile.

"Wait how do we explain this to our parents?" Kyoko asked out loud, realizing the factor of their parents.

"I'll talk with them," Alek replied with an assuring tone. "If they refuse then I'll have to look elsewhere though."

Kyoko nodded, slightly feeling more comfortable around the man that would respect her parents' word if they reject. Alek on the other hand didn't care either way, he could always stalk I mean observe the white haired child while he was at school.

In the end, Alek was welcomed into the Sasagawa household with open arms. They found Alek to be a reasonable and responsible man. How, was a mystery to both the blond man and the siblings. After all, all they did was ask him about himself.

The reply was simple, he told them his name, age, and occupation. Then they asked him about his marriage life. A subject where Alek was still a bit touchy about.

"She's dead," was all he could say to them, trying not to reveal the sadness in his voice.

He looked away, missing the eyes of the parents soften slightly as they looked at this man.

"Your friend?" the father had asked.

"She's a bit busy dealing with something," Alek replied, glad of the change of subject. "As for my reason for asking this household. It's only for experience, something that I had done before and I now found out to be rude."

"Old habits do die hard," the father replied with a hearty laugh. "You're welcome to stay."

That was how it went. Now here he was talking with Ryohei about boxing while eating some food. A food, that he noted that had a touch from the sparkle fairy just for appearance. Soon, before they knew it, Kyoko went to bath with Colonello and Ryohei went to sleep.

A small smile reached up to Alek's lips as he watched the father and mother fuss over their children, making sure that they get comfortable.

He remembered doing the same thing when his little son came way he grinned, the way his smile lit up the entire house. Sadness overcame him as he remembered the blood that covered his son and wife. The way their arms reached over to him as. The pain was still etched into their faces. The tears, still going down their eyes. Alek clenched his fists tightly then softly took deep breaths.

"Are you alright?" the mother asked, worry swirling in her eyes.

Alek felt himself slump slightly, he unfurled his fists.

"I'm fine," he said with a strained smile.

"It's fine to let go a bit," the father said with a compassionate smile. "It's very evident that you also had a child."

Alek reeled back a bit and looked at the parents with shock. His blue eyes widened and his lips turned into an 'o' shape.

"It's obvious by your eyes," the mother said with a small delighted chuckle, finding the shock almost comical.

"I..see," Alek replied softly, cursing himself mentally for letting down his guard this much.

"What was the child like?" the mother asked, sensing that the atmosphere around the man starting to tense up.

"He was a lovely child," Alek replied automatically, a small nostalgic smile placed on his lips. "His smile would light up the house and his eyes would always be filled with a passionate light."

An embarrassed blush rushed into his cheeks, suddenly realizing how much he had said.

"It's fine," the father said with a bright grin. "Parents should gush over their children while they have the chance."

Alek groaned and placed his hands on his face. Suddenly he heard a new pair of chuckles, obviously coming from the three who was supposed to be in bed.

"That was poetic," Colonello teased, finding the situation to be more amusing than seeing Mammon and Fon interact.

Alek glared at the rain arcobaleno. More chuckles came from the two parents. The glare then came to the two, who just laughed.

"Tell me again why I'm here?" Alek whined as he tried to have the Sasagawa family plus Colonello to stop laughing.

Unknown to him, his heart had released the sadness from the deaths of his loved to him, he had unconsciously released pure sun flames, something that he hasn't been able to do for a long time.

* * *

**Omake 2: The chain reaction of the Sawada**

* * *

It was a normal day in Nanimori Middle school. Everybody was trying to hurry up and avoid getting bitten to death by the head prefect, Hibari Kyoya. On that day, a petite brunet was humming and slowly making his way to the school. All around him, students stopped to look only to be blinded and be shocked by the sparkles and flowers around him.

When the Bell rang, only a few students and the brunet were left just outside the entrance. The petite brunet just hummed happily as he strolled into the gates of the school and met by an angry prefect. The prefect walked up to the brunet and stopped in mid-stride. The reason was the smile that the young brunet gave to him.

"Herbivore," Hibari said. His eye twitched as he wished that he had sunglasses on him. The boy blinked and suddenly his smile dropped. His honey colored eyes widened in realization on who was in front of him.

"H-HIEEE!" He shouted, fear laced within the shout. The prefect inwardly sighed and held up his tonfas.

"Herbivore,"Hibari repeated cooly, betraying no emotion in them. "For being 3 minutes late, I'll bite you to death."

The brunet shouted his girlish scream again before trying to run away. It all ended in vain when the prefect just easily closed the gap between them. Sawada Tsunayoshi winced in pain as the cold hard metal tonfas hit his back. Already he was mentally regretting not writing a will in case this happened.

"I-i'm sorry," he stuttered as the metal tonfas hit him again. Hibari just hit the brunet again ignoring the words that he had said. Once satisfied with the degree of punishment, Hibari dragged the brunet to his class and went back to patrol for any more pr-stragglers.

Tsuna quietly went back to his seat, rubbing the bruises that laced his skin. He was just glad that the prefect did not do any further damage. Unfortunately the silence of the class made him fidget again and made the poor young man look up, his honey colored eyes swirling in confusion.

"I-is s-something w-wrong?" Tsuna asked, stuttering a bit. He looked around the class to felt like an insect being pinned to a board. The students didn't reply, they just looked at him with pity.

After a few seconds of silence, the teacher resumed the lesson. Once again Tsuna was ignored and some of his classmates just went back to listening. This left the young brunet confused on why there was that gap of silent staring.

Further into the lesson, the door slid open in the middle of the class. Everyone's eyes directed their attention to the door. A young brunette girl went in. Her honey colored eyes shifted toward the direction of the eyes uneasily.

"I-i was told that this is my class," she softly said, her voice sounding like small tinkling bells.

"You're the new student correct?" the teacher asked, looking down at the fidgeting brunette. The girl nodded. The teacher smiled assuringly and put down the yellow chalk in it's place.

"Class," the teacher said out loud. He looked at his students, who were surprisingly quiet. He saw the curious look in their eyes, confirming his thoughts that the new student looked a lot like a certain Dame in the class.

"Introduce yourself," the teacher said to her, giving her another of his assuring smiles.

"I-i'm Sawada Natsuki," the young brunette girl said with a shaky smile. "N-nice to meet you all a-and please t-take care of m-me."

"EHHHHH?!"Almost everybody in the class exclaimed. The teacher choked on his spit and coughed violently.

The students started to murmur. _Dame-Tsuna has a sister? Wait that means that Dame-Tsuna wasn't the one roaming the halls looking confused. I thought he was crossdressing. Wow, I feel bad for the girl being related to such a lame guy. Yeah._

"I'm sorry?" Natsuki asked coolly. Everyone in the room froze. Head swiveled towards the source of the voice. Their eyes went wide as saucers as they thought they saw a purple miasma surrounding the petite girl.

"What did you call my little bro?" She asked coldly. "What did you call my little tsu?"

Everybody shivered and remained silent. In that moment, they were reminded of the head prefect.

"Well?" She asked loudly, her honey brown eyes narrowing slightly. When nobody answered, Natsuki just narrowed her eyes even more, making the atmosphere in the class even heavier. Almost everybody was trying to breath.

"D-dame-Tsuna!" One of the bullies shouted. The atmosphere was lighter and girl brunette giggled like a little school girl.

"See? That wasn't so hard," she said with a bright and angel like smile. Tsuna banged his head on his table. _Stupid little brother complex_ he thought distastefully. Immediately, he felt the searing hot stares of his classmates, who seem ready to kill him on sight. _It's not my fault that she's like that! _He wailed to them in his thoughts.

"Any questions th-," the teacher said, trying to get the atmosphere back to normal, yet he was interrupted by the door sliding open. Everyone, including the Sawada siblings turned their heads and saw the head prefect with a bloodthirsty smirk.

"Who's the little carnivore that put out that aura?" He asked. Everybody went silent, Natsuki on the other hand inwardly panicked, realizing what she had done. The prefect's smirk disappeared, he was starting to get irritated. He just held up his tonfas and repeated the question.

"Who's the little carnivore that put out the aura?" He asked once again, his eyes glinting dangerously. Everybody in the room shivered. The students quickly panicked and were about to point at Natsuki only to be met with a dangerous glare from the girl being directed at them.

"Herbivores," Hibari said, irritated by the lack of response. In reality, Natsuki was glaring at the students with an equal amount of evil miasma that the prefect has. The students really were in a tight spot. They either faced being beaten to death by the prefect or they could the daily torture of the new student.

Then the bell rang. Hibari Kyoya narrowed his eyes and left, Sawada Natsuki released her glare and went straight to her little brother. Everyone else, quickly released their breaths, glad for the danger to be over. The teacher on the other hand sulked in the corner of the classroom because he was unable to finish the lesson that he had carefully planned out the night before.

* * *

**Omake 3:The Commander's little girl**

* * *

As recommended by his father in that small little note that he had gave her, Xanxus immediately ordered his other subordinates to have a scheduled "bond time" with Catrina. Some of the members hated the thought and others just squealed in delight(*coughsLussuriacoughs*). Yet they couldn't disobey the Boss' orders, so they followed the order.

The first to be put in was Squalo. Despite his respect for the girl, he still had a couple of doubts of her overall being. First was her lack of memory and the second was the way she could barely understand his one-time explanations. Despite that, the time he had spent shopping with her made it aware to him how innocent the girl was to the point of him wanting to baby her. Of course, he would never do that. Squalo knew that the Varia only accepted the best and Catrina wasn't an exception to that high standard.

So on the first day of bonding, he made her train. The girl just grinned instantaneously and proceeded to train without a sour look in her face or any vulgar words coming out of her mouth. The silver haired man was thoroughly impressed. As he thought, her body still retained memory of training. She was clearly showing potential of being Varia-quality in that snippet of time.

Things went well up until the near end. That was when her stomach grumbled loudly, wanting food. Squalo, still impressed decided to take a break to eat, being slightly famished himself. So they went indoors.

When they went in, Lussuria happily provided the two with food plus dessert. The two ate eagerly and silently as they chomped down the food at an amazing rate. Then dessert came and the disaster happened.

"Oh my," Lussuria exclaimed, making the two pause from their almost empty plates. "It seems that there's only enough cake for one person."

There was a huge thud that came from right outside the kitchen door. Squalo looked back as the door opened to reveal Bel, who happened to be passing by. Catrina on the other hand froze then smiled slightly.

"Neh Papa," she sweetly said to the silver-haired man. "You don't mind if I have it, right?" Bel flinched slightly and glared daggers at the girl.

"Nah," Squalo replied plainly, slightly amused by this situation. "You can have it." A dagger was thrown at him, he just dodged it.

"Shishi," Bel said, his grin sharpened. "Luss, I can have it right? Because I'm a prince?"

"Of course,"Lussuria happily said, ignoring the purple miasma seeping out from Catrina. "Though I did promise these two the dessert first."

Catrina grinned happily, the purple miasma disappeared from the atmosphered in the kitchen. Bel just scowled and sharply glared at her. Then a thought surfaced within his oh so smart mind. His trademark Cheshire grin appeared in his face as he brought out his knives. Without a moment's notice, he just threw them at her.

Squalo scowled and immediately swatted the knives away with his sword.

"VOI!" He shouted angrily. "Don't you dare kill MY Catrina!"

Upon hearing her name, the said girl turned around to see Squalo slashing his sword at the blond prince. Lussuria just happily laughed as Bel was trying to dodge the silver haired man's sword, a small look of surprise over taking his features. Catrina watched in utter awe and with wide eyes as she watched her father use a plethora of shark named attacks at Bel.

"That's so cool," she breathed out as her eyes sparkled then shouted. "Daddy, can I learn those cool moves?"

Squalo froze along with Bel, who was relieved that he didn't have to take the brunt of the commander's attacks. The silver haired man smiled slightly and nodded, a proud gleam shone obviously in his eyes. Bel paled slightly, upon hearing those words. If Squalo teaches Catrina the way of the sword, he and the others would have to deal with a mini-commander.

"No way," Bel spoke out loud. "The prince won't allow you."

Squalo glared at Bel, making the boy's skin shiver slightly. This sort of intensity wasn't normal for the silver haired commander except when he was serious. Bel felt defeat as he cowered a bit under the glare and backed away out of the kitchen.

"God help us all," he murmured softly as he left, the image of Catrina turning into a mini-Squalo still in his head. Meanwhile, Catrina ate the dessert with a happy grin stuck on her face while Squalo was mentally planning on the oncoming training that she needed to learn the way of the sword.


	9. Reflections and Lightning Battle

_Chapter 9:Reflections and Lightning Battle_

* * *

**A/N: Just a reminder, if you have read this story, know that I've rewritten most of the stuff here. So re-read then come back if you haven't already. Other than that please read on and thank you for Reading.**

* * *

Sawada Natsuki knew the moment that she had accepted Checkerface's deal that her life was never going to be normal anymore. Yet she didn't think of the consequences. Somewhere within her, an impulse took over her mind, the adventures were too lavish, blinding her eyes to the bloody truth. In truth Life was not always all rainbows and Unicorns. That was what she learned during her stay with the Varia. Now here she was laying on her bed, thoroughly thinking about her mistakes, something that she should have done earlier. She thought how she gambled her life away. How she abandoned her brother like her father. How she broke the Varia's hearts in a span of a year and six months. Yet within all those mistakes were precious memories. Memories that reminded her that the future is still there despite her curse. Despite her small habit to make bets with Checkerface.

The door opened, Natsuki sat up and looked at the face of his little brother and his tutor sitting on top of his head.

"Na-nee," he said with worry lacing his voice, a small wrinkle forming on his forehead.

"I'm fine," Natsuki replied, a small smile placed on her lips. "Don't worry about me Tsuna."

"But.." Tsuna countered, only to be kicked by Reborn. "Itee.."

"You shouldn't be like Dame-tsuna," Reborn said. "Anyways, you owe my student an explanation."

"Right," Natsuki said with a small sigh coming out of her mouth. "Then please listen carefully."

Both boys nodded and sat down to listen. Once seated, Reborn signalled Natsuki to start.

"Alright," Natsuki said. "I believe it's best to start from the beginning, the time when I got into an accident. I got hit by a car, of course, and died. Well of course I was supposed to die. Apparently at that time my patron noticed the Trinsette's weakness. It did not do enough to have the world balanced. So he decided to create a new system. This new system consisted of frozen flames to make sure that all wild flames don't go off and start burning the world."

"Wait what's the Trinsette?" Tsuna asked, interrupting Natsuki and earning a kick from reborn.

"The Trinsette is a sort of system that keeps the world balance," Natsuki replied with a small reassuring smile. "I believe that Reborn will explain what it is specifically but think of it as a sort of like a seesaw.."

"Just move on," Reborn piped up, sounding annoyed by the lame explanation.

"Sorry," Natsuki replied then continued. "So, this new system needed holders like the Trinsette. He had already chosen six others but he had yet to get the seventh user. That's when I come in. Being a sky flame user like you Tsuna, was a sort of blessing to him of sorts. And to add to that, I'm also a direct descendant of Giotto. Therefore I was a perfect candidate. Unfortunately I was too young at that time, so he had me split my soul into many pieces. Before that we made a bet, being a kid, I agreed to the terms. Before I turn 18, I had to the pieces of my soul back together to the original body or I lose about 10 years of my life. Thankfully I won."

"So these six other people," Reborn said. "They all are flame-users?"

"Yes," Natsuki replied. "As the sky, I am automatically their boss. Hence the title 'Boss' coming from Alek."

"Is that all?" Tsuna asked, narrowing his eyes a bit, his Hyper Intuition going off slightly.

"No," Natsuki said. "The curse part is that our bodies are slowly freezing and the only way to stave off our deaths is to inject flames into our systems. I keep making bets with my patron only because Sky flames are rare."

There was silence. Tsuna contemplated on Natsuki's words. He repeated them over and over again in his mind. He was already dealing a lot more since the lightning battle is up next and that meant that Lambo would get hurt.

"Just think it over," Natsuki spoke up softly. "For now you should think about this battle right now."

Tsuna looked up at his older sister, he saw her assuring smile. Yet her smile didn't reach her eyes. He could tell that the burden of what had happened to her had finally weighed down on her.

"Alright," Tsuna said and hugged her before leaving her room. Reborn took one last glance at the girl brunette before also leaving her room.

* * *

The next morning was an odd one for Tsuna. It started out normally. Breakfast was served, the kids get a bit rowdy, Reborn steals his food, Natsuki gets it back for him. Then there was the knock and a TYL(Ten years later) Lambo look-alike was standing in front of him. He was wearing a long black coat and his black hair swayed downwards from his face.

"Is this the Sawada house?" He asked, his voice was down a few octaves than TYL Lambo.

"Yes," Tsuna said, looking at the man with a hint of suspicion in his eyes. Then his sister came from behind him.

"Ah Niccolo," she happily said. "I didn't think that the Bovino boss would let you out this early."

"I didn't think so either," Niccolo replied with a small smile. "Is my litt-"

"Fratello!"Lambo screamed in delight as he ran towards the older man and tackled him to the ground with a ground.

"Ciao fratellino(little brother),"Niccolo softly said and hugged his little brother then coughed a bit.

"Fratello you're sick again?" Lambo asked, his head tilting slightly and a worried expression covering his face.

"I'm fine," Niccolo replied with a small smile. "I see you've taken a liking to this house."

Lambo's expression lightened slightly as he started to tell his fratello about his life at the Sawada household. Tsuna watched, amazed at how both interact nicely. Despite Lambo's brattiness, Niccolo's soft presence balanced it out. Next to him, he could feel his sister's presence as she also watched both of them.

"We should ignore them for now and let them have their fun," she said to him. "The two need it since the Bovino boss doesn't let Niccolo out because of his sickly condition."

"Alright then," Tsuna replied, glancing at his sister before going out with Reborn, who happened to be on his head.

Natsuki smiled slightly as she saw her brother leave the house. From the edge of her vision, she saw her father look at Niccolo suspiciously. A smirk formed on her lips as he started to wonder why he was even here in the first place without placing any suspicion on his family. This made hiding things from him much more easier. Natsuki just passed his father ignoring the man as soon as he tried to speak with him, her smirk already disappeared.

* * *

Natsuki arrived earlier than she intended, she didn't expect it to rain the whole night either. In front of her was Levi-A-Than, who looked at her suspiciously.

"Umn Hi?" Natsuki spoke up with a thin smile on her face. She was promptly ignored.

"Umn What's your name?" Natsuki spoke up again. "I'm Natsuki by the way, nice to meet you."

Again silence. Natsuki sighed, she felt her heartbeat quickly rise slightly. Breathing wasn't easy for her at the moment and awkwardness was suffocating her.

"Levi-A-Than," Levi spoke then closed his mouth again. Natsuki smiled brightly.

"Nice to meet you Levi-A-Than-san," she replied then flinched a bit as soon as the thunder was heard. She looked up at the sky and frowned slightly. In her mind, she could picture Lambo being in a pinch especially with Levi as the opponent.

"Such lovely weather," she softly said to herself with a small smile. She remembered that the weather was about the same on the night that she died. Levi-A-Than just simply nodded in agreement upon hearing her words.

* * *

Tsuna and the others soon arrived on the rooftop only to see Natsuki sitting down on the wall and sleeping.

"Nee-san," Tsuna exclaimed in horror as he saw that she was thoroughly soaked from the rain. "Nee-san wake up."

Natsuki's lips frowned slightly before she slowly opened her eyes. She glanced at the expression that her brother was wearing and ignored it.

"Morning," she softly said as she got up and stretched. She shivered slightly as she felt the coolness of the weather and rain start to affect her.

"What were you doing here so early?" Niccolo asked, a small frown decorating his lips.

"I stayed late and decided I didn't have the time to be going back home and then go back here," Natsuki replied with a small yawn afterwards. "Levi-A-Than-san was here already when I came up."

Tsuna and the other boys looked toward the huge man, who was just standing there.

"Ah fratellino," Niccolo said grabbing Lambo. "Wait, don't run off like that."

Tsuna turned his attention to Lambo and helped the older Bovino calm down Lambo for a bit. That was when the lightning struck, making Lambo look at the contraption before them with glimmering eyes.

"It's called the Eletricco Circuit," One of the Cervello women spoke up. The other spoke up to explain what it was, making the older Bovino smirk playfully.

"Do have fun fratellino," he said to his little brother. Lambo grinned and tried to get out of Tsuna's hands, only to have one of his horns drop towards the ground.

"Stupid cow," Gokudera said and picked up the horn and got out his sharpie marker. "Don't trouble Juudaime."

He started writing on it and showed it to both the cow child and the brunet. On it 'stupid cow' was written. Both boys blanched at the sight.

"There," Gokudera said with confidence. "Now someone will bring it back to you if you lose it."

Niccolo snickered quietly as he saw his little brother look at Gokudera with a new distaste gleaming on his eyes.

"Alright let's do it again Sawada!" Ryohei shouted with glee and pulled the boy brunet into a cheer circle.

"Lambo Fighting!" They said once in the circle. Natsuki watched with pity as Lambo asked to do it again, only to have it be refused by her little brother.

"The lightning guardian must come up," one of the Cervello announced, making the young group turn around and look at the field. "Levi-A-Than has been waiting for two hours."

"T-two hours?!" Tsuna exclaimed and looked back at his sister for confirmation. She just nodded. Soon, the rest of the Varia excluding Xanxus arrived.

"He's two hours early again," Bel said with his usual smile.

"He's always an awkward guy like that,"Mammon replied.

No sooner had they said those words, Lambo started to run towards the field, only to be stopped by Tsuna.

"You don't have to go in if you don't want to Lambo," Tsuna said to him. "I don't know why Dad picked you to fight but it not right for a kid like you to don't want to die right?"

"You know I'm indestructible right Tsuna?" Lambo said with a sneer at his face then turned around. "Bye."

"Ah wait,"Tsuna exclaimed and grabbed the cow child's shoulders. "You're Ten year self told me not to use the Ten year bazooka."

"You talk too much!"Lambo exclaimed with anger. Tsuna held out the old horns.

"But if you're going then take these," Tsuna said, ignoring Lambo's previous words.

"I don't want them,"Lambo argued, looking at the dirty and old horns with distaste.

"Just take them," Tsuna said and forcefully put in the horns in the child's afro. Niccolo watched as his brother entered the field with worried eyes before taking a deep breath in and looked at the field as a whole. Beside him, Natsuki leaned on the wall. She shivered a bit from the the rain and the cold, regretting that she had not at least come back home to get a jacket. Her eyes landed on Levi, who seemed to be looking at the child with utter disgust. A small smirk formed on her lips, knowing what the man was thinking. Levi's eyes then wavered towards her and then looked away suddenly.

"Tsu-kun,"Natsuki complained out loud. "Levi-A-Than-san is looking at me weirdly."

"He did fucking what?"Tsuna asked coldly then glared over to the poor man's side. Levi glared at Natsuki who just smiled innocently at him. Bel and Niccolo softly snickered, as they watch the young brunet boy glare at Levi while muttering some very colorful words. His other guardians just blanched a bit, glad that Lambo was a ways away to not hear those words.

"I think the battle should start,"Gokudera said, signalling the girls to ignore the scene before them.

"Then the Thunder battle," the Cervello announced. "Levi-A-Than versus Lambo..start."

Once again the mood was somber. Natsuki watched as Lambo approached a wire while prodding it with his hand, wondering how it works. She ignored her brother's talking, knowing that this contraption doesn't do anything bad to the child except maybe scratch him lightly.

The lightning struck, the boys held their breaths except Reborn and Niccolo, who just watched in amusement. Levi jumped out of the way,while Lambo foolishly stayed and got electrocuted.

"We'll confirm if he's alive or not," One of the Cervello announced.

"No need," Levi said, signalling the pink haired woman to stop. "He's burned to a crisp."

That was when he heard the cries of the little boy. Niccolo smiled as he heard his brother's cries. Elettrico Couiu, that was the effect of being struck by lightning so many times. Something that Niccolo knew more than any person in that roof. Natsuki on the other hand, warily looked over to Levi, who was shaking with anger. She knew that once that man will get pissed, there is little to no chance Lambo will survive fully intact.

Natsuki's body flinched as she saw him hit the child with an electrified umbrella. She took a glance at the older Bovino, who seemed to be grinning like a mad man. Immediately, Natsuki turned her head back towards the field. Nearby her, she could hear Tsuna's protest and Gokudera's encouragement as Lambo took out his Ten year bazooka and went in as Levi attacked.

Pink smoke went up the air and was cleared by the wind. In front of them was the TYL version of Lambo.

"Yare Yare," He calmly said as he looked in front of him. "Who knew that Gyoza(pot-stickers in english translation, called Jiaozi in Chinese I think. Basically it's a sort of Chinese dumpling, these are good by the way and I recommend tasting some) would be my last meal."

With that the younger Bovino ate the food that he had on his chopsticks before taking off the napkin tied around his neck. Immediately, the Varia members questioned his presence, only to have the Cervello to explain that he is Lambo Ten Years in the future.

"Sorry Lambo," Tsuna said towards the older version of the cow child.

"Don't apologize," TYL Lambo said with a small smile as he picked up the chain with the ring and put it around his neck. "I had a feeling this might happen."

The young Bovino then looked back towards his older brother, who was smiling at him. His face twisted into a frown.

"Take care of yourself too fratello," he added then turned his attention towards the enraged Varia lightning guardian.

"Don't worry too much fratellino," Niccolo said with a hearty laugh. "You'll get white hair earlier if you do."

'_Liar' _Natsuki thought as she glanced over to her subordinate and saw bits of ice starting to form on the older Bovino's fingertips. Immediately, she ignored the random conversation and the younger Bovino's Thunder set. The young brunette girl dragged Niccolo forcefully down the stairs and into the floor below, looking much more pissed every second that they were away.

"I've already collected the flames by the way," Natsuki said with a small huff once she stopped. "Ma-"

A huge current of electricity passed through them, Niccolo winced a bit while his Boss passed out. Niccolo blinked and looked at his Boss with concern and confusion twisted on his face.

"Boss?" He softly asked as he knelt down to check her pulse and condition. There a was faint pulse on her skin.

"Boss," the older Bovino repeated, more worry laced in his voice. She didn't respond, Niccolo slowly poked her and blinked. Soon, it settle down upon him how weak his Boss is at the moment.

"Shit," he murmured as he picked up his young Boss and ran towards the hospital. He didn't bother looking back, knowing that his little brother would be safe in the hands of the Vongola.

* * *

Tsuna was devastated. First Lambo was hurt then he learned that his sister was caught up in the lightning that was released by 20 years later Lambo and back into a sleep-like state. He was afraid again, like when he was five, when he was told that his sister might never wake up.

She was only sleeping, not in a comatose state. That was what he told himself. He will wake up just like Lambo will. That was what he assured himself. Until then, he had to keep going, the next battle was of course going to be the Storm battle. He hoped it would be something to take his mind off the whole situation.


	10. Interlude B

_Chapter 10: Interlude B_

* * *

_Italics-Dream speak/Flashback_

**A/N: I will update soon. I just got myself to fix some stuff here. I have revised nothing in the plot. I only changed the Interludes so it won't have part 1 or 2's on them. **

* * *

Levi-A-Than was no fool. He knew that when Squalo started going silent it had everything to do with Catrina. Catrina, that name had him feel heavy and sad everytime he thought about it. That girl had went into their lives with that innocent smile of her's. He had watched her as she warmed his precious Boss' heart, as she impressed Squalo with her abilities. He watched as she charmed the blond prince, Lussuria, and the baby illusionist. He experienced the feeling of warmth as she accepted her with open arms. Levi-A-Than was no fool. That was why he was standing on front of his Boss and Squalo with a serious facade for a reason.

"What do you want?"Xanxus coldly asked him. Levi flinched, he could still feel the disappointment from his Boss from his last battle radiating from him.

"I want to talk about Catrina," Levi replied, his voice shaking slightly. He saw Xanxus stiffen, the white haired commander flinching. He had hit the Jackpot, or probably the minefield as he felt the heavy miasma encircling both of his superiors.

"This..this is just a speculation but," Levi continued hesitantly. "Maybe, Catrina hasn't died. Maybe she faked her death."

"Tch,"Squalo replied with a small sigh releasing. "Who knew that you'd be the third to figure it out that easily."

Levi mentally sighed with relief. The heavy miasma surrounding his two superiors already had disappeared.

"How'd you find out?" Xanxus asked, making Levi fidget in happiness.

"That girl,"He replied. "She..was similar to her, in a way."

"You've got to be kidding me," Xanxus said with a groan of annoyance. "Are you suggesting that brunnette girl trash is our Catrina?"

"Yes,"Levi replied with confidence. Xanxus glared at his subordinate, not believing such statement. It was impossible.

"I doubt it,"Squalo said while shaking his head in dismay. "From what information I got, seems that she had been in a coma until six months ago."

Levi deflated, it seems that his theory was wrong. A small part of him did encourage him that he got the part of "Catrina was still alive" right though. Xanxus on the other hand was getting annoyed.

"It doesn't make sense since she seemed to know about her," Squalo continued. "Unless she never did go into a coma and faked it."

"There's a chance," Xanxus said with a nod. Levi was silently glad that he wasn't being glared at anymore and silently listened to the two.

"Why don't we interrogate her then?" Levi asked, interrupting the two, suddenly realizing that they didn't have to go the roundabout way to do this sort of situation. They were Varia after all and didn't mind kidnapping for their own purposes.

"Oh yeah,"both men said in unison, Levi wanted to hit his head on the wall, seeing this behavior.

"I'll get my men to get them,"Levi said, feeling suddenly tired.

"Right, Good work Levi,"Xanxus said with an approving nod. Levi's tiredness faded away and he inwardly did a jig as he left with those words fresh in his mind. Yep, it was a sweet reward to hear those words from his Boss.

* * *

Niccolo Bovino looked at Alek with a small frown as the blond man started treat the cut that he had received from cutting some vegetables from Nana.

"Sorry Alek,"Niccolo said with a small smile. "I didn't want to interrupt you from your stay with the Sasagawas."

"It's fine,"Alek replied plainly. "Other than that how's she?"

"She's fine," the older Bovino said with a small tired sigh. "Though, I tried doing the mind thing to try and meet up with her, I couldn't..she wasn't responding."

"That's bad, maybe we ca-"

"I already did ask Checkerface-sama, he said he couldn't reach her either. But he did say that this will be temporary."

"So that means until then we have to keep doing what we're doing.."

Both men went silent, only hearing the sound of Nana cutting vegetables on the cutting board. A shiver ran down their spines as they remember the person that's coming next for the Storm battle.

"She won't like it," Alek muttered, "She'll kill us."

"And I didn't even get to hang out with my little bro yet,"Niccolo whined. "Agh goodbye fratellino, I hope he does well when I'm gone."

Alek patted the older Bovino on the back.

"Sorry dude,"he softly said, inwardly he was weeping. "But I have to go back, take care."

"W-wait A-al-" Niccolo said and reached his hand out to stop the blond man. Unfortunately for him, Alek already left, leaving his pill bottle in the seat in front of him.

"Traitor!" Niccolo wailed.

* * *

Natsuki opened her eyes and looked around the hospital room. In the bed next to her was Lambo and beside him was her mother and I-pin. A small smile formed on her lips as she was sleeping peacefully.

Slowly, the girl brunette got out of her bed and changed into some regular clothes then slipped on some sneakers. She hesitantly looked back at her mother, who was still sleeping. Quietly, the girl brunette snuck out of the hospital using the window, which she opened slowly due to the noise it made when opened.

Once outside, the cold wind greeted her, making her regret not bringing her jacket along with her. Natsuki then kept walking until she stopped at the entrance of the park.

"Are you here to take me away Levi-A-Than-san?" She asked out loud with an amused smile. "Because I would love to go along."

Levi flinched and went out of the shadows.

"Impressive," he said to her. "Then you wouldn't mind coming along?"

"Of course not," Natsuki replied happily. "I was waiting actually. Though I'm not sure about my brother and others. Nevermind about that, let's just go."

Levi hesitantly walked towards her, he was skeptical on why she would happily go along with him. No sane person would want to be kidnapped willingly unless they had something planned.

"You can knock me out if you want,"Natsuki piped up, seeing the hesitation in his eyes. "After all, It's time I met up with your Boss anyways."

Levi frowned. He couldn't believe what was coming out of this girl's mouth. Yet he complied and held out the cloth that was soaked with Chloroform to her mouth, making her unconscious. He then caught her and carried her back to the temporary Varia base while dismissing his men from their posts nearby.

* * *

Natsuki was still asleep by the time Levi had arrived. Deciding that she wouldn't be waking up soon, he placed her in a random guest room. Once he left, he went towards Xanxus' office to report to him about her willingness to get kidnapped.

"Boss," Levi greeted, still slightly dazed from thinking.

"You got her?"Xanxus asked, he could see his Boss fidgeting, getting impatient from waiting.

"Yes," Levi replied. "But it was willingly."

"As expected,"Xanxus said with a nod as he looked over to Squalo.

"I'll interrogate her when she wakes up,"Squalo said out loud before leaving the room with a serious look on his face. Levi softly sighed, as he noticed the fatigue starting to affect his precious Boss.

"You should rest,"Levi calmly said. Xanxus opened his mouth but closed it again. With a small nod, he complied with Levi just at that time before leaving the office to rest. It had been a long day for him. Levi, on the other hand followed his boss out of the room and went to get himself something to drink. It was going to be a long night for him.

* * *

_Alek looked nervously at the frozen storm guardian and their frozen sky. _

"_I cannot believe you," she angrily said to the small brunette girl. "Letting yourself get kidnapped like that and to those boarish men too!" _

"_It can't be helped,"Natsuki replied. "So please just go on with business."_

_The frozen storm guardian stiffened and opened her mouth before closing them again. _

"_Fine," she said hesitantly. "As long as you are safe."_

_Natsuki smiled brightly at her direction. _

"_Thanks," she said. "Then excuse me, I have a long interview with a certain shark to attend to."_

_With that, Sawada Natsuki woke up to a pair of curious eyes looking at her._

"_Ciao Superbi Squalo," she whispered happily._

* * *

If there was one thing that Squalo could always blame for his fate, it would be genetics. Specifically genetics for those bright smiles that can make a person with sight go blind. Catrina had them and so did this smiling little brunette girl in front of him.

"Shut it off," he growled as he squinted his eyes. In the corner of his mind, he noted that unicorns and fairies(the more good kind) danced around this girl.

"Umn What do you mean?" The girl asked, tilting her head slightly, a huge question mark hanging above her head. Squalo had the sudden urge to just hit his head on the wall.

"VOIII! You've gotta be kidding me!" He shouted, his patience burning away with that shout of his. The girl flinched a bit and looked at Squalo intently and with wary eyes. Squalo sighed and pulled up a chair and sat down, making himself calm down by mentally counting downwards.

"You should know why you're here," he calmly said in a normal volume.

"Of course," Natsuki replied with a wry smile. "About your Catrina, yes?"

Squalo nodded.

"I'll answer every question then," Natsuki said, her wry smile disappearing. Her eyes revealed the sadness hidden within those bright globes. "But it's just better to explain."

Squalo stiffened a bit and opened his mouth to object but he found himself stopping as he saw the eyes.

"Go ahead," he reluctantly replied, signalling the brunette to start with her explanation.

"Your Catrina really did die that night,"Natsuki said and continued on once she saw the silver haired man open his mouth once again. "I'm telling the truth right now. Because I remember the night I died."

Squalo froze. His mind whirred, logical thoughts rejected the words comes out of her mouth. Yet a small part of him believed her. That Levi was right, that she was Catrina.

"I'm Catrina," Natsuki went on. "Because she is a part of my soul and therefore I am her."

"You're lying," Squalo said with a scowl.

"I'm not," Natsuki replied with a serious face. "Let me tell you about the car accident."

* * *

_Sawada Natsuki, age 5. She was cheerful young girl that doted on her little brother like her father. Her brown hair messily flowed down to her shoulders and her huge honey colored eyes charmed the people around her. After school, she decided to head to the park instead of home to play at the swings. Despite having friends Natsuki had always valued the tranquility of being alone. That day, a strange cat caught her eyes. It's fur glinted wonderfully under the sun and it's eyes glowed in different colors._

_Being a curious child, Natsuki followed the cat as it went down the road. Then the car came. The child tried to cry, yet no tears came. Her voice came out as a small croak. Pain instantly appeared and disappeared. Once the brunette opened her eyes she found herself standing in front of a tall skinny man with a skull mask hidden on his face._

"_Hello child," he said with a cold and emotionless voice. "You've died."_

_The brunette girl shivered as the man patted her head._

"_As they say it's really fluffy," the tall man said out loud. Natsuki blinked and looked at the tall man as he removed the skull mask, revealing soulless black eyes with handsome sharp features._

"_Do you know who I am?" He asked the girl as he kneeled down to her level._

"_Death?" Natsuki asked, still slightly shocked by the turn of events. "So You're death?"_

"_Yes," Death replied with a small smile. "Fortunately, you won't die."_

"_But you just said I've died."_

"_Yes you have. Girl, you're going to to live again but it's your decision whether or not you accept the man's offer."_

"_Offer? What offer?"_

"_You see, you have some special blood in you and a certain person is willing to revive you under the conditions of taking on this curse."_

"_So what's this curse?"_

"_It's the curse of living with frozen flames that will eventually kill you if you don't put flames within yourself. Sadly your flame is a rare one."_

"_But that means I still get to live right?"_

"_Not exactly, As that guy says, you're too young. Your body can't handle the curse, so he wants to split it and have it return when you grow up."_

"_Then I'll take the curse. Because..because mommy and daddy will be sad if I die and I'm scared to die."_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Yes, But can I get my soul back when I turn 18?"_

"_By 18 years old...Yes."_

"_Alright then."_

_Death looked at the girl with his soulless eyes and felt pity. Pity for what the girl was about to experience. Pity for the fate that she had chosen and pity for her experience. With that pity, he granted Natsuki a small gift._

* * *

"And the rest is history,"Natsuki finished.

"That was bullshit,"Squalo said with a calm facade.

"The arcobaleno curse was also bullshit," Natsuki piped up. "But it's true, you just have to look at Mammon. Plus you also saw my frozen flames."

"Those metal thingies were your flames?" Squalo asked with wide eyes.

"Of course," Natsuki replied. " You think I have iron bars in my skin and transform like some mutant?"

Squalo went silent, thinking about all these stuff. Natsuki on the other hand watched the silver haired man. Her heart ached badly and her body shook slightly. She was badly holding back her want to hug him. She wanted to cry and tell him sorry but if he didn't accept the truth, she knew that all chances of apologies were nothing.

"Just think about it," Natsuki softly spoke up. "Now can I go home? I don't want to worry mama and Tsu."

The Varia commander looked at the girl and softly sighed. Reluctantly, he stood up and lead her out. He would have to explain this to Xanxus later.

* * *

**Omake 4: The Prince, warrior girl, and the cake**

After that incident, Bel was reluctantly and forcefully admitted into the next rotation. Catrina was also bit reluctant to spend time with the boy but complied. The blond prince on the other hand was slightly miffed from that incident. He wanted revenge and revenge is what he will get.

So here they were, eating cake in a cafe while silently being wary of each other. As they ate, ideas formed in their minds. Bel's mind was filled with plans that would embarrass her while Catrina's was filled with ways to try to befriend the guy. Lady luck on the other hand had a lot of plans in store for the two. As the two ate, they didn't see a man with a gun threaten the person behind the cash register to hand over the money. They didn't see the people gather in a group, afraid of the gun. They didn't see the man approach them with a swagger in his walk.

"Oi kids," A tall buff man said gruffly, pointing his gun at them. Bel and Catrina stopped eating and looked at the man boredly.

"What do you want?" Catrina asked coldly. "Don't you see that we're busy eating?"

"Shishi the peasant's right," Bel piped up. "You can't just interrupt us like that and with a toy too."

The buff man glared at the two teens in front of him as they started to eat their cake again. With a small movement of the finger, he shot at both cakes. The frosting splattered on their faces and clothes.

"Kaching," Bel said with a sharp grin as he wiped the icing off his face using the sleeve of his sweater and took out his knives. Catrina looked at the man with an icy glare as she wiped the icing off her face using a napkin. Purple miasma surrounded her and made the man freeze in place. Bel threw a knife, it landed on the man's arm. The man winced in pain as the knife went deep within his muscles. Then he felt a cold metal touching his neck.

"You don't waste cake like that," Catrina sharply said to him. Immediately, he broke out into sweat. His whole entire body shivered and he nodded quickly.

"Good," the girl said with a bright smile. "Now shoo."

With that, the man ran away, leaving the money that he stole in front of the two teens. Bel glanced at the raven haired girl and then put away his knives, feeling slightly disappointed that he didn't get to make a masterpiece out of him. Catrina smiled slightly as she took a glance at the blond prince. Noticing the icing she wiped it off from Bel's cheek.

"You missed a spot," she said with a small amused smirk. Bel felt his face heat up in embarrassment. A sharp smile replaced his features as he tried to hide it. Catrina's smirk widened, the blond's smirk dropped as he backed away from the girl.

"I kinda like seeing you act like a normal guy at your age sometimes," Catrina said out loud as her smirk widened. "It's kinda cute and you remind me of my little bro…"

Catrina's speech faltered. Her brown eyes glistened in sadness and confusion as she tried to figure out what she just said. Bel watched as the girl held her head, her frown deepening.

"Oi peasant," he said hesitantly. Catrina did not move.

"Peasant," the blond prince repeated again. Catrina did not move.

"Catrina," Bel finally said with a slight haste with his wording. The raven haired girl looked up at him with a confused face.

"What?" She asked, making Bel feel slightly uncomfortable.

"You just said something about a little brother," Bel said.

"I did?"

"Yeah."

Catrina's forehead wrinkled as she tried to remember. Finally a sigh came out of her lips as a sign of giving up. Bel felt like he was falling off a cliff as she did that action. She was so close too to remembering.

"Excuse me," A small voice spoke up from behind them. Both teens turned around and saw the blushing brunette woman. "Are you both a couple?"

Catrina coughed loudly and looked at the woman incredulously. Bel shook his head and did his trademark "shishi."

"No," Both replied together after their initial shock has passed away. Both then looked at each other with a small glint of respect before paying their meals and leaving.

"You're not half bad peasant," Bel said as he walked out with her.

"Same could be said to you," Catrina replied with a small smile on her face. "Hey, let's ask Lussuria if he has some tiramisu."

Bel grinned and nodded. Both teens returned, heading straight to the kitchen and ignoring the stares about their frosting dirtied clothes. Meanwhile back at the cafe, the owner returned to see a pile of money on the ground and his employees chatting about a cute couple that saved the store.

* * *

**Omake 5:Omnivore, meet the skylark**

Hibari had soon got the name of the person who emitted such Carnivorous aura and to say that he was shocked was a big understatement. The way she acted was like an omnivore's attitude. She was shy and quiet and was mostly good like other herbivores. Yet the way she protected her brother was what made her a carnivore. He watched as she scared off the young brunet boy's bullies and also threatened a teacher who was picking on him. By observation, he was sure that her brother was a sort of catalyst in this change in behavior.

By the third day of his observation, the skylark decided to confront the girl himself and maybe have a little spar. He wanted the later of course and that was how he found himself opening the door of classroom 1-A.

"Om-Sawada Natsuki," he said out loud, making everyone on the room freeze. "Come with me."

All eyes went to the girl brunette, the said girl just looked at them with wide eyes of confusion and worry. The prefect tapped his foot, slightly getting impatient. Seeing this Tsuna faced his sister and smiled a small reassuring smile. He then signalled his sister to go, not wanting her to anger the prefect anymore. Natsuki took one last look at her brother and got up to follow the prefect out of the classroom and up to the roof.

"Fight me omnivore," Hibari said to her once they arrived. Natsuki's eyes narrowed.

"No," she replied distastefully.

"Fight me or I bite you to death," Hibari threatened.

"No," Natsuki insisted, instinctively moving into a defensive stance. Taking this as a signal to start, the skylark took out his tonfas and charged at the brunette girl.

Naturally, the brunette girl dodged and she did just that and more. Her body started to react on it's own and quickly made her do a low kick to make the skylark off balanced. The prefect, being the prefect, just jumped away. A small amused smirk emerged from his lips. Natsuki shivered at the sight. She knew that Hibari was a force that needed to be reckoned with but something that she shouldn't worry about that much. Yet in the back of her mind, the nagging small voice told her that she needed to go back.

"Prefect-san," Natsuki suddenly said as they warily watched each other for the next move. "I seriously want to get back to class."

Hibari ignored the brunette's words and swung his tonfa towards her. Natsuki dodged and grabbed the tonfa, pulling the prefect closer to her and grabbing the other tonfa.

"I want to get back to class," she said with a slight venom mixed in with her tone. Hibari narrowed his eyes. Disappointment started to set in within his system as he realized the reason for her wanting to leave. It was her brother's bullies that she was worrying about.

"We continue afterschool," Hibari said once taking it all in consideration. He pulled his tonfas away from her grip and pointed towards the door that lead back downstairs. Natsuki grinned a bit at the prefect's direction then quickly strode towards the door and down the stairs. She made her way back to the classroom. As she walked back, her body shivered again but not from fright or shock but from excitement. It had been a long time since she had the time to even spar like that.

Sawada Natsuki opened the door with a sharp grin, making most of the students freeze and stop midway in their small talk towards her brother.

"S'up Tsu," she cheerfully said as she approached her brother, who was looking at her with worried eyes. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine,"Tsuna replied, his eyes scanned his older sister and found no bruises inflicted by the prefect.

"Don't worry," Natsuki leaned over and softly said to him. "Just get home once school ends, just be careful."

The brunet boy nodded yet still looked at his older sister with worried eyes. He knew that Hibari would not just leave someone he was interested in with that perfect condition.

"I'll be fine," Natsuki assured with a bright and confident smile. "Don't worry about me Tsu, I can take care of myself."

Sawada Natsuki looked at the prefect, waiting patiently for her as she arrived on to the roof. A small tired sigh went out of her lips as she saw the glint and felt the skylark's aura.

"Just to warn you," she said out loud. "I'm still going through physical therapy."

The prefect nodded curtly and immediately charged at the brunette girl with his tonfas. Natsuki dodged the attack and did a kick to his stomach before backing away at a considerable distance. Once again the young prefect attacked, swinging his tonfas at a much more faster rate. Natsuki blocked with her hand, wincing slightly upon contact.

The barrage of attacks, dodges, and blocks were continuing as a few minutes passed by. By then, Natsuki had gotten used to moving sharply to avoid and counter attack yet it took a lot of energy. By the next minute, the brunette girl was on the ground with Hibari on top of her with a tonfa on her neck.

"Told ya," she told him in between breaths. Immediately, the weight over her disappeared and she felt herself being pulled up. The skylark look at the pitiful looking omnivore that is wincing in pain and wondered if he misjudged her a bit.

"Herbivore," he said as soon as it looked like she can stand and walk on her own.

"Seems I got downgraded," Natsuki said with a small laugh. "Good."

"You're scared of me like the other herbivores it seems,"Hibari noted out loud. Natsuki laughed more and shook her head.

"Prefect-san that's where your wrong," Natsuki replied, a huge grin forming on her lips. Hibari looked at the brunette girl to explain why she wasn't scared of him. Natsuki just turned around and left.

"Herbivore," Hibari said again, Natsuki didn't turn around. Hibari helplessly watched the enigma of a girl open the door leading down go through that door. As the wind swirled around, Hibari took one last look at the door again before going towards it.


End file.
